Dr Amir Akram’s one-stop shop for patients
Despite early hurdles, Dr Amir Akram’s vision for growing his practice into a one-stop shop for patients became a reality.
Learn MoreA practising GP who also loves to teach, there are few areas of medicine Dr George Eskander has left untouched.
5.5 minutes
Dr George Eskander is clearly one of life’s high achievers. Equal parts practitioner and academic, Dr Eskander is the Director of Medical Services at two of Western Australia’s most prestigious hospitals, while simultaneously serving as a surveyor for the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. In addition, he is a board member on the WA Medical Board where he sits on the Immediate Actions Committee, Registration Committee and Western Triage and Assessment Committees.
And the reason WA gets to benefit from his knowledge and expertise comes down, mainly, to the weather.
Values-based leadership
Dr Eskander also serves as a senior assessor educator for Commonwealth-funded organisation the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, where his role includes oversight of the fellowship examinations which doctors must sit to gain GP qualifications.
When not busy ensuring the WA medical community consistently performs at its best, he can be found helping to influence its very future through his work as an adjunct clinical associate professor at Perth’s Curtin University.
“I’m driven by all sorts of values-based leadership, but for me the most important thing is treating everyone with dignity. To me that would be my one guiding principle, no matter what anyone has done, everyone is worthy of the highest level of respect.”
The lure of Australia
While his employment record itself is impressive, what makes this even more remarkable is the fact the 33-year-old achieved all this just three years after stepping foot on Australian soil.
Clearly destined for a career in management, prior to his arrival in these parts, Dr Eskander held a number of high level positions within the health system across Northern England where he implemented several impressive improvements.
He says his most notable was the introduction of a single electronic health record for all GPs, patients and hospitals—a concept that impacted the lives of around 850,000 people.
But were it not for England’s notorious poor weather, it would be the UK medical community—and not the Australian equivalent—benefiting from the doctor’s talents. Dr Eskander says he and his GP wife Clare were in London staring down the barrel of another cold, wet summer when the idea of moving to Australia first struck.
“It was really, really grey and really, really miserable. We just thought there had to be more to life than this.”
Surfing life
With one-year working holiday visas in hand, the pair and their then three-year-old initially stepped off the plane in Sydney in 2016 before settling on their eventual home in Perth. “We were surfing in April and we thought ‘this is it’—it was as simple as that.”
Having added a second child nine months ago, the Eskanders are also keeping a firm eye towards the future having launched a small investment portfolio of six properties in and around the area. He's also embraced the great outdoors, venturing into stand up paddle boarding. “What’s not to love about living here? It’s the whole lifestyle package, the beaches, the surf, it’s really kid-friendly. It is just awesome,” he says.
Almost from the moment he arrived, Alicia Scher has been Dr Eskander’s first port of call for anything related to his financial future.
The pair first met when the England-born medical practitioner approached her for assistance to fund a corporate car.
Following that initial meeting, Alicia and Dr Eskander have continued their professional relationship with BOQ Specialist assisting Dr Eskander with funding a primary place of residence for him and his young family as well as funds for his growing investment portfolio.
The privilege of service
Yet while he clearly feels at home here, Dr Eskander says the thing he enjoys most about being part of such a vibrant medical community remains the same no matter what part of the world he calls home. “The patients trust you with their lives and I think that’s a real privilege. It’s the privilege of being able to serve my patients.”
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