Dr Umber Rind is a GP at her practice, New leaf Medical Clinic in Northern Melbourne. She grew up in Western Australia and moved to Melbourne just prior to studying medicine at Melbourne University. 

Dr Rind initially started training in obstetrics and gynecology, however she made the difficult decision to leave six years into the program after challenging experiences with discrimination. 

A proud Badimaya Yamatji Muslim woman with Afghan cameleer ancestry, she is passionate about increasing diversity in medicine as well as addressing racism and discrimination.

You can find Dr Rind on Twitter, facebook and Instagram

This interview has been lightly edited for length.

What inspired you to become a doctor?

I would describe it as a ‘drive’ that I have had ever since I can remember.  Since I was young, I've always had an interest in solving problems and just trying to ‘fix’ people. I was always the little kid carrying bandaids and trying to heal everybody.  What attracted me to medicine is also the component of empathy, of humanity within it. And you're actually doing a lot of good to one person at a time. The most rewarding aspect, especially as a GP, is that you get to see the same people over time, see them improve their health and see their journey. 

What have the past few months been like for you as a GP in Melbourne’s Northern Suburbs? How has the pandemic impacted the community you work with?

It's very tough. In the beginning, there was a lot of confusion - there was a lack of clarity with what we could and couldn’t do. We were quite lucky that we were able to order supplies such as gowns and masks early which was a challenge for a lot of clinicians. 

There was a point before tele-health where people were quite scared to come in. In general practice, your business runs on people coming in and we noticed a definite decline in numbers. That’s what happened to us, and several of my colleagues. 

In the second wave, the northern suburbs were definitely impacted the most. It’s a low socio-economic area, with a large number of people undertaking service jobs, nurses and aged care workers which impacted the way the outbreaks and cases occurred. It’s a great relief we have passed that stage now, but comparing the first and second wave there was certainly a difference in the type of people that were affected, which several forms of disadvantage undoubtedly compounded. 

We’ve seen a rise in misinformation and conspiracy theories during this pandemic. How do you promote health literacy in your practice and publicly on social media?

In my practice, if somebody raises something that sounds inaccurate, I will gently try and address it and talk to them about it and give them some resources. You have to be careful because direct confrontation rarely works. If you directly speak against what they believe in, they are not going to listen. Being very respectful and gentle in the way you approach the discussion is very important. It often just involved leading them to some resources and directing them to the right questions. 

In terms of social media, I use my Instagram stories a lot to promote health information, as well as Facebook to educate the people around me. It is however, more difficult there, because if you are someone in the conspiracy theory world, you are likely to have your own sources of information and may not be receptive to other voices. Essentially, all we can do as medical people is to be respectful to those who have different opinions, voice your own and attempt to educate. Ultimately, we cannot force anybody to change and we may just have to accept that they will hold their views. Our job is to take care of their health regardless of whether your values align or not and that is the most important thing.

We've also seen the pandemic widen inequality and an increase in racism and vilification of the communities disproportionately impacted, in particular towards Muslim communities in Melbourne. How do you think medical professionals and students can combat racism and promote equity and access to health resources?

With this situation I think we have to be realistic and stop imagining that racism is not a problem in Australia and stop pretending that racism doesn't also exist within the medical profession. I think we need to accept that. Especially if you're a Black person, Indigenous or a Person of Colour, so we need to accept that there’s a problem. We also need white doctors in the profession to accept that, and actually start listening to some of us with the concerns that we're talking about because we have experienced it personally. 

Being an Aboriginal and a Muslim, an identifiable Muslim, ever since I was in med school, I have experienced it all. If I don't mention I'm Aboriginal, I can save myself some of that discrimination, but then I have another aspect, with being Muslim. 

So what I would want everyone to understand is we need to work towards finding solutions and we need to have a fair process, especially for those of us who want to pursue specialty training programs like I tried to do, but couldn't. I don't think that doctors, especially if you're, like I said, a Black person, Indigenous or a Person of Colour, should see themselves as a failure if you're not moving forward. Once you finish your medical school and you're trying to get into programs, you need to understand that there's structural racism and institutionalized racism that exists that is blocking some of our pathways and we need to start dismantling that... We need to start looking at equity and stop pretending that it's not a problem and trying to say that oh it's based on merit. It's not always merit. 

Do you think medical education prepares us adequately for the complexities of the health system? What can we do in med school to be better prepared for the non-clinical challenges in regards to policy and politics?

I think it's really hard because as a medical student, you've got so much pressure to learn so much in a small amount of time, there’s a lot of information, and you're trying to focus on that. So there'll obviously be things that you learn along the way when you become a doctor. 

One way to prepare yourself is by paying attention to what is happening in the society, analysing and understanding if there are problems with structural racism, for example, in other institutions as well our own. 

Learn the vocabulary and learn your rights. If you have an issue, you need to know how to voice it and who to go. It’s very difficult to address issues in hospital settings and within the hierarchy. Our medical profession is full of bullies, often of the worst kind. Challenging the status quo is always controversial and will have its consequences. So we have to make choices regarding speaking up wisely, be realistic and think about the impacts it could have on our career. I would also recommend finding a mentor for some guidance, someone who is senior and can help you navigate some of the difficult pathways and decisions. 

As we're coming into summer, we'll have a little more time on our hands to read. Do you have any book recommendations for students?

Yes. I would recommend Dark Emu written by Bruce Pascoe. That’s a book that clears up several myths about Aboriginal people. I think it's a great book to educate yourself about the past so I would recommend everyone to read it!