GP Communique – Update from Dr Sonu Haikerwal

Update from Dr Sonu Haikerwal (Director, General Practice Gold Coast Board)

Dear GP colleagues,

It’s an absolute pleasure to represent you on the General Practice Gold Coast (GPGC) Board, of which I play the role of the treasurer.

I want to reach out to all of you to express my support in these challenging times and also want to applaud you on all your hard work you have been doing over the last 20 months.

I think you will all agree that we have faced numerous challenges since the start of this pandemic that have pushed us to the limits of our professional and personal capacity. Having said that we have survived the changes and made the best of them.

I am so incredibly proud of the collaborative approach that we have shown working with each other and with the Gold Coast Hospital and health system. This has been reflected in the successful running of the GP Respiratory Clinics which have provided a very essential service to patient in this pandemic.

I am the co-owner and clinical lead for the Upper Coomera Respiratory Clinic and I personally would like to thank each and every one of you who have shown confidence in our services and have worked with us. We have tried our best to keep communication strong and work towards a patient- centered approach.

I also want to reassure you that as we move towards opening our borders and moving into a new phase of COVID-19 Positive patients in our community, the GP Respiratory Clinics will stay committed working with you to serve your patient and keeping your practices safe.

I am also a GP Owner of two practices, called Haan Health Medical Centre, which are located in Broadbeach and Upper Coomera. As a small GP owned business we have faced some of the toughest challenges related to HR, IT, business models and financial well being. My heart reaches out to the practice owners who share my sentiment in this regard.

I could talk about so much more, including vaccine roll-out, government messaging, colleague burn out, but I shall leave this to another time.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and leave you with the following quote that has inspired me:

“Hardship can be a great opportunity for you to build a deep level of strength ad well being. Mental hardship is your making – you must stop that.” – Sadhguru

Let’s stay connected and strong and please feel free to reach out to me or any of the directors at GPGC. My email address is sonu_haikerwal@hotmail.com

Dr Sonu Haikerwal
Director, GPGC Board