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Obituary: Dr Anisha Malhotra – dedicated GP, wife and mother

Dr Anisha Malhotra

Anisha Malhotra was born on 14 December 1949 in Khatauli, India and was brought up in Sirinagar Kashmir. Her father Jagdish Prasad Verma worked in the Central Government Service and was one of the pioneers of All India Radio Kashmir. It was while recovering in hospital from a cholecystectomy and appendicectomy that an 11-year-old Anisha decided she would like to study medicine in order to be able to help other people. During her school holidays, she had enjoyed reading scriptures like Ramayan and other inspiring stories and had been spiritually inclined since childhood.

Anisha conducted her medical studies at K.M. College, Delhi University and then joined the Institute of Medical Sciences at Banaras Hindu University, graduating in 1973.

We met later that year while she was visiting Delhi, and she then began work at the Lady Hardinge College for Ladies, New Delhi in 1974. She did her training in Medicine and Anaesthetics, and we were married in September 1974. In 1975, we moved to Kurukshetra, Haryana where she worked as a Medical Officer in the District General Hospital. Both of our sons were born in New Delhi, Amit in October 1975 and Aseem in October 1977. Then in 1978, she joined me in the UK.

Anisha said: ‘When my husband told me that he had got an attachment and that he wanted to go and do a Diploma in Tropical Medicine I said, “OK you go ahead”.

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‘But when he came here and he wrote his first letter saying “come and join me” I could see that it would be very difficult for him to move here on his own without his family. ‘And I was living in India with our two small babies so I decided that I had to join him. It was a challenge. But I enjoyed it, because we had to be together.’

Initially Anisha worked in Psychiatry and Anaesthetics in Trafford General Hospital. After completing her GP training in 1985, she joined a group practice as a salary partner in Manchester. Then on 28 October 1988, her son Amit passed away, due to heart failure, at the age of thirteen. This was a difficult time but her religious faith kept her going. In 1998, she joined me as a partner in general practice in Ashton-under-Lyne. In December 2003, Anisha suffered a massive subarachnoid haemorrhage. She did recover with support of her family including her son Aseem, now an eminent consultant cardiologist. Her religious faith was enormously helpful to her throughout her life and Anisha kept herself busy, reading scriptures and contributing to religious websites.

Anisha passed away in hospital at the age of 68 after a short illness from septicaemia.

Dr Kailash Chand is a retired GP in Tameside