Ara Darzi
Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2010
BBC
4.4 • 804 Ratings
🗓️ 22 June 2008
⏱️ 36 minutes
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Summary
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the pioneering surgeon Professor Ara Darzi. He was born in Iraq and brought up in Baghdad but he moved to Ireland when he was 17 to study medicine. He came to England to finish his training and, highly talented and ambitious, was made a consultant when he was barely out of his 20s. Since then he's been nick-named 'Robo-doc' for spearheading the use of keyhole surgery in Britain and for introducing robotics to the operating theatre.
For the past year he has combined his surgical work with a position in government - he is a health minister and, on the eve of the NHS's 60th birthday, he is charged with reshaping the NHS in England. It is, he says, the greatest challenge he has yet faced.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Nicola Cochlin. Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them. My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right. In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world. Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey, |
| 0:24.7 | history's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin. |
| 0:27.8 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.3 | Hello, I'm Krista Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. |
| 0:35.3 | For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. The program was |
| 0:39.0 | originally broadcast in 2008. My castaway this week is the pioneering surgeon Professor Aradarzi. |
| 1:01.4 | A world expert in keyhole surgery, he's also been nicknamed Robo Doc for introducing frontline technology to the operating theatre. |
| 1:10.7 | Born in Iraq, an early brush with death sparked a lifelong passion for the power to heal. |
| 1:16.6 | He went on to study medicine in Ireland, moving to England to finish his training. |
| 1:21.2 | Young, talented, and possibly a little impatient to display his surgical skills. |
| 1:26.0 | He would spend his Friday and Saturday nights |
| 1:27.8 | hanging round hospitals, waiting to see if he could make himself useful. And he did. He was |
| 1:33.7 | offered a consultant's post when he was scarcely out of his 20s, a professorship and a knight |
| 1:38.8 | hood followed soon after. So now, Adarzi, as well as spending half your time in hospital, |
| 1:45.9 | you are a health minister. |
| 1:52.0 | You're charged with the not inconsiderable task of shaping the NHS for the demands of the patients of the future. |
| 1:55.6 | I can't imagine you exactly needed other work to fill up your time. |
| 1:57.4 | Why on earth did you take on the task? |
| 2:03.8 | Well, I got the phone call last year from the Prime Minister and to my complete shock, I was gobsmacked when he turned around and said he wishes me to undertake a review of the |
| 2:08.5 | NHS and appoint me as a Minister of Health in his government. A great privilege to be asked. |
| 2:14.0 | I've always enjoyed a challenge. It was very challenging decision to make for a period |
| 2:20.5 | of time, but once I was convinced that I could maintain my clinical and scientific activity, |
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