Family doc who spoke out over hospital downgrade plan retires
PARTY CELEBRATED 40 YEARS OF STERLING SERVICE FROM MEDIC
A DOCTOR who was a fierce critic of the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary downgrade plans is to retire after 40 years of NHS service.
Bert Jindal is a familiar face to thousands of residents thanks to his sterling service over several decades running the Paddock and Longwood Family Practice, building the Speedwell surgery in Paddock and extending the Longwood surgery.
On Saturday night his wife Beverly organised a surprise retirement party for him at Huddersfield Rugby Union Football Club at Lockwood Park, attended by more than 100 friends and family members.
Among those attending were his Paddock partner Dr Tim Swift and his old science teacher Jeff Carr as well as Richard Vautrey, the chairman of the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee.
Dr Jindal’s profile became even higher in recent years as he emerged as a fierce critic of plans to downgrade Huddersfield’s emergency services.
But his glittering career in this country - he became national chairman of the British Association of Young Scientists in 1973 - hinged on a tragic event in his family’s life.
His father, Rajendra Kumar Jindal, an orthopaedic registrar at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, had intended to return to India with his wife, Shakuntala Jindal, also a doctor, but he died when Bert was a young lad.
A very intelligent boy, he attended Oakes Junior School before going on to Huddersfield New College where he found science “ridiculously easy” and from there he never looked back.
He graduated from Bristol University Medical School in 1979 before he undertook junior hospital jobs in surgery and paediatrics in the south west and then Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield until 1985. He trained as a GP in York.
After courting a trainee nurse, Beverly at Leeds General Infirmary in 1981 they married in 1987 and he moved to Huddersfield in 1987 before going into general practice with his mother in Paddock and Longwood.
The couple have three children, their eldest daughter, Sita, 31, also a doctor, a son Arjun, 29, who lives in Brighouse and their youngest child, Priya, 23, who is studying for her PGCE in biology at Queens College, Oxford, having done a degree in psychology at Edinburgh.
Although he has retired from the practice, he is continuing his role as secretary of the highly influential Local Medical Committee.
As well as his medical work he has also been president of Longwood Sing, a famously long-running musical fixture, since the 1990s.
Dr Jindal, 63, said he was delighted at
I will still remain active in health service management
and teaching
the party and impressed with his wife’s ability to have kept the secret for so long.
He said: “I remain strongly opposed to the downgrading of Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and feel that services must be improved at local hospitals and in neighbourhood communities.
“I will still remain active in health service management and teaching after retirement from the practice but plan to travel to further my interest in wildlife photography, canoeing, sailing and skiiing.”
Dr Swift said: “I joined his mother’s practice in 1983 and Bert joined in 1987.
“The practice had very cramped premises and Bert pushed forwards the building of a modern, state-of-theart premises at Paddock and major extensions to the premises at Longwood, providing the spur to enlarge and modernise.
“We have worked with other partners for about 30 years, through all the reforms imposed on the service and am happy to see the practice strong and well-equipped for the future.”