Dr Mariam Bahemia likes letting her work as a GP and advocate speak for itself rather than seeking the spotlight.
By Ara Jansen
She might consider herself low key when it comes to visibility, but Dr Mariam Bahemia’s work as a GP, volunteer and advocate makes plenty of noise.
“I enjoy making a contribution,” she says. “The groups I am involved with are an opportunity to provide advocacy, education and to make a difference to the lives of children in Mauritius and Rodrigues. There is a unique and special connection within our medical community in Perth. This provides many opportunities to network and find ways to make a contribution.
“It’s important to have member-based organisations to advocate for GPs and their patients. I’ve worked in three countries as a GP and wherever you go, you realise what a difference GPs make in their communities. It’s a very special relationship with a trusted doctor. There will never be anything that replaces the work of a GP. There’s so much we do to improve public and community health.”
Mariam’s parents – her father Mauritian and mother Irish – met at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, a maternity hospital. Mary was a midwife and Ally was a medical student at the Royal College of Surgeons. They connected when Mary took students on visits to do home births. It was the 1960s and a relationship which mixed culture and religion was quite unusual.
The pair married in London and Mariam and her two siblings were born there. Life in London wasn’t always comfortable in the 1970s and the pair were no strangers to racism. So, they decided to make a change.
Ally had a cousin who was a GP in Perth, so it became a choice of Western Australia or Canada. Mary wanted to move somewhere warm, so Perth won.
“I wasn’t particularly happy moving here,” says Mariam who was eight at the time. “I was extremely happy in London and loved it there. We travelled a lot to Mauritius and to the west of Ireland to visit family while I was a child.”
While being a doctor had always been on her radar, Mariam also had a talent for singing and had her own tutor. Before moving to Australia, she performed in Tchaikovsky’s opera The Queen
of Spades.
“I thought I would love to be an opera singer, but once we moved to Perth I didn’t continue with singing. There was a short time there where I wanted to be a pilot, after I went to an open day in Year 9. None of it was ever serious because I really always wanted to be a doctor, but not just a doctor, I wanted to be a GP.
“General practice was always something that interested me. I was inspired by my late father who knew something about everything. I worked as a receptionist in his practice. I was touched by the way his patients trusted him and the very special relationship a GP has with their patients.
“After my years of studying at university I didn’t want to practise in a narrow field. As a GP and a medical receptionist, I realised what a privilege it was to care for people and be trusted by them.”
Unlike today’s proliferation of group practices, Ally started his practice in Perth as a solo GP, which wasn’t unusual at the time. As Mariam was readying herself to become a GP, she saw how difficult and challenging that was and not an easy choice.
Mariam studied medicine at UWA, but it wasn’t smooth sailing. In her second year her father died of a heart attack. He was 52. Losing him so suddenly was “deeply traumatic”. While her friends and fellow students rallied around to help create some sense of normalcy, it was obviously a difficult time. Mariam failed her exams.
“This was a new experience for me. I still remember the telephone call from the university when they told me that after deliberation, they would grant me the opportunity to repeat the year and that I should consider myself extremely lucky. I told them I didn’t feel lucky.”
Mariam did seven years of medicine and made a new group of friends, many of them who are still her friends today.
“They have lasted a lifetime. Without them, things would have been even more difficult. I’m very grateful for them.”
She did her internship at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, then spent six months at PMH and did a diploma in child health. As part of her GP training program, she went to practices in Balga, Pinjarra and Whitfords.
On completing her fellowship, Mariam thought she would go back to the UK. An around-the-world ticket took her to New Zealand, Canada and eventually to London, where she worked as a GP. It didn’t take her long to decide she didn’t enjoy working in the NHS as a GP. She returned to Perth in her late 20s.
The GP went to work in the practice of the late Dr Mohan Singh. After she became a parent, he was hugely supportive of Mariam having flexible work hours.
“His approach was that your family should come first. He passed away suddenly in 2010 of a heart attack and the practice closed. I had already watched my father’s practice close. That really brought home to me how important a GP is to a community and the far-reaching effects that are felt when a doctor passes away.”
Mariam herself had the same GP for 36 years in Dr Stephan Hellmuth, who retired last year. He was the first person she rang after she passed her final medical exams. She also sat in with him as a student.
“He showed me it’s really important for every doctor to have their own GP. I encourage every doctor to have a GP of their own. Many of us are happy to see other doctors as patients. It’s very rewarding. He was also one of four GPs who has inspired and mentored me – I am grateful for the support they have given me.”
Another GP who is both a mentor and friend is Dr Serge Toussaint. He is a founding member of COMMSSA – the Children of Mauritius Medical and Surgical Support Association which was started in 1991. It’s a group very dear to Mariam’s heart.
“He approached me when I was a medical student when he recognised my surname as being Mauritian. I became involved with COMMSSA as an intern. It’s one of the most fulfilling things I have done in my life. Working with a team of volunteers we raise money and facilitate the treatment of disadvantaged children from Mauritius and Rodrigues. There are also many non-GP specialists in Perth who have assisted in the care of these children and given their time and expertise to make a difference. We are deeply grateful to them.”
Mariam – currently the group’s president – has travelled to Mauritius and Rodrigues with members of the committee numerous times over the years on self-funded trips to facilitate specialist nurse education programs in stoma and wound care.
The high incidence of Hirschsprung disease in Mauritius brought the group’s attention to the need for specialised nursing and wound care. They ran a stoma course for student nurses in Mauritius earlier this year.
Mariam is also active locally in the medical community including being co-deputy chair of RACGP WA and was a UWA clinical tutor for nine years. She currently works in a group practice in Bedford, where she has been since 2012. She has been working part-time since the early 2000s, after she had her first child.
“I do my best work part-time and continue being a doctor because I really enjoy everything about it. It gives me time to do other things in my life as well. I like combining being a doctor, teaching and with my Mauritian background, getting to meet and mix with people as part of fundraising. That’s how I can mix medicine with my time off, volunteering and giving my time to groups related to medicine.”
Married to obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Michael Gannon, the pair have two teenage children.
In perhaps the closing of a circle, Dr Gannon’s fellowship in 2004 took the pair to Dublin and back to the Rotunda Hospital, where their daughter was born.
“Neither of my children are interested in medicine. I want them to be happy in whatever they choose to do. Medicine is a challenging career. You have to really want to do it. It’s important to do what makes you happy and fulfilled.
“I grew up in a house with medical and nursing parents, my spouse is also medical. We both feel proud to be doctors, have a sharp understanding of what it takes and feel fortunate and lucky to be able to practise medicine and look after patients. I don’t know any different.”
When she’s not working, Mariam is an avid reader and enjoys spending time with family and friends. She has a deep interest in English literature and history.
“Growing up, my parents took us to see all the museum and art galleries – castles, Tower of London, Hampton Court, Hatfield House. History has always intrigued me and still does. I do miss that, living in Perth, so I travel and that fulfills my interest in history.”
When she’s in need of something less cerebral and more of a rush, it comes in the form of zip-lining. Mariam has zip-lined in Busselton, England, Ireland, Mauritius and the Otway ranges in Victoria. Her latest jump was off Matagarup Bridge on her birthday earlier this year. If there’s a zip-line, Mariam says she’ll give it a go.