Dr Kamlesh Khunti voted one of UK's best GPs

Dr Kamlesh Khunti
A diabetes expert from Leicester has been voted one of the most influential GPs in the country.
A poll put Professor Kamlesh Khunti in the top 20 of present-day doctors who have helped to shape general practice.
He was named in the list, published in Pulse magazine, one of the country’s top weekly medical publications, after a panel of 50 leading GPs were asked to judge which of their colleagues they most admired.
David Gorrod, chairman of the Leicester Mercury Patients’ Panel, said: “It is a real fillip for Leicester to have such an auspicious and acknowledged figure such as Prof Khunti included in this list.”
 
Prof Khunti has been a GP in Leicester for 20 years but much of his work is now centred on diabetes research and has won national and international recognition.
The medic, whose practice is in Hockley Farm Road, Braunstone, said: “Inclusion in this list of GPs came as a big surprise, although it is nice to be recognised. Being a GP has given me a lot personally and I hope I have given a lot back.
“Leicester is a truly multi-ethnic city and in terms of my research, I wouldn’t have been able to do it anywhere else.”
Prof Khunti, 48, was brought up in the city and returned to Leicester after training to be a doctor in Scotland.
His work, with Professor Melanie Davies from the University of Leicester, helped secure £2m worth of funding for the city to become a local diabetes research network.
He was also key in developing the Desmond programme – diabetes education and self-management.
Dr Kamlesh Khunti
The self-education programme helps patients diagnosed with type-two diabetes control their condition and is now widely used across the country.
Prof Khunti, has also helped to develop a national vascular screening programme, to help detect early signs of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease. It began being introduced through GP surgeries last April and has won international recognition.
Another element of his work is his involvement with a group carrying out major work on diabetes in the South Asian community.
Dr Azhar Farooqi, a GP and chairman of NHS Leicester City’s clinical cabinet, said: “It is excellent for Leicester that Kamlesh has been recognised in this way. He deserves it because of his enormous research contribution to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
“The work he has done has changed practice, particularly in patient education.”
Prof Khunti, who is married with three children, is a founding member of the Primary Care Diabetes Society and works with Diabetes UK. He is also involved in international diabetes research.
In 2001 he was awarded the Royal College of General Practitioners’ John Fry Award for research and delivered the Mary MacKinnon Lecture at the 2006 Annual Professional Conference.
 
By Cathy Buss Health Correspondent
 
 
More information about  Dr Kamlesh Khunti
 
Leicester University 
 
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