Meet Dr Sonu Haikerwal one of Coast’s most prominent general practitioners

One of the Gold Coast’s best known doctors grew up dreaming her name would be on the admissions list to India’s best medical school, where they only chose 35 people per year. Then one day, it was.

Dr Sonu Haikerwal is the co-owner and Principal General Practitioner at the Haan Health Medical Centre's. Picture John Gass

FROM as far back as she could remember Dr Sonu Haikerwal, one of Gold Coast’s most prominent general practitioners, has loved working with people.

With a childhood home nestled in the shadow of India’s best medical school her goals took on a physical form.

“I grew up looking out at the school where only 35 students a year were ever selected,” she said. “I will never forget the day I saw my name on the admissions list.”

Former president of the Gold Coast Medical Association, Dr Sonu Haikerwal is the co-owner and Principal General Practitioner at the Haan Health Medical Centre's. Picture John Gass

After her graduation the general practitioner worked in Melbourne and the UK only to settle on the Gold Coast in the early 2000s.

She established two medical clinics, in Broadbeach and Coomera, with her husband Raj.

She is loved by both her patients and the medical community — was the president of the Gold Coast Medical Association until last month — all the while raising a family. However, to Dr Haikerwal, her success hasn’t always been so obvious.

Dr Sonu Haikerwal. Picture John Gass

“I think work is not work when you feel passionate about it and I love being a GP.

“But there is a hierarchy and a lot of people don’t see GPs that way.

“Going back to Dehli for my 25-year medical reunion I was nervous, thinking, ‘what am I going to say’. They had all become very established and famous specialists.”

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“I was at that point in my career, feeling like having to prove myself and my work.”

Only after a conversation with one of her peers did Dr Haikerwal realise how lucky she was.

“He was a successful gastroenterologist in New York and yet he told me he envied me. It was a wake-up call because I realised I had found my niche, my calling.

“Just yesterday I had a four-year-old spot me in the street, I knew her from her conception.

“I realised that being present as a human being is core to medicine.”

The Gold Coast Bulletin’s inaugural Harvey Norman Gold Coast Women of the Year campaign celebrates the city’s leading females.