Date Published: 23 September 2008

Staff and Associate Specialist Committee elect new leadership

Dr Radhakrishna Shanbhag, a trauma and orthopedic surgeon from Blackpool was today (23 September 2008) elected the new Chairman of the BMA’s Staff and Associate Specialist (SAS) Committee.

Commenting after the election, Dr Shanbhag said:

“I believe in empowerment and recognition for SAS doctors and now that we finally have a new contract, the real hard work starts. I will make every effort to ensure that the doctors we represent understand the new contract and are not exploited by their employers. We need to bring non-standard grades into the umbrella of the specialty doctor1 grade and proceed with implementation by ensuring they are offered the option of switching to the new contract.”

He added:

“There is likely to be a large expansion of our grade in the future and therefore we need to look at improving career progression and training opportunities for specialty doctors and associate specialists. It is vital that NHS:Medical Education England (NHS:MEE), the new body being set up to oversee medical education and training, takes the training needs of SAS doctors into consideration.”

Dr Shanbhag will be supported by:

Mr Rajnesh Nirula – Chairman of the SAS negotiating Subcommittee
Mr Nanikram Vaswani – Chairman of the SAS Strategy, Policy and Procedures Subcommittee

who were also elected at today’s committee meeting.

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