Dr Satya Prokash Mukherjee

Dr Satya Prokash Mukherjee, who died on the 6th April, aged 86, was a general practitioner at
Pallion Health Centre (now Wearside Medical Practice), Hylton Road, Sunderland, for over
30 years. Earlier he had worked in paediatrics at Sunderland Royal Infirmary. He first joined
the practice of Drs Caplan, Cohen and Keidan at Well Street Surgery in 1972 and the practice
moved to the newly opened Pallion Health Centre in 1978.
From the very start, Dr Mukherjee strove for the practice to apply the highest standards of
medical intervention. He organised Saturday medical meetings in order to improve the
knowledge of GPs, who travelled from throughout the north-east, to hear consultants lecture
on various medical topics. When GP training began in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Dr Mukherjee
became the first GP trainer in Sunderland. This was a huge undertaking in the days before
computers. Dr Mukherjee had to individually summarise medical histories by hand for nearly
5000 patients and organise the practice in order provide both supervision and training time
for GP trainees. This was on top of his normal medical and the administrative duties of the
practice, which including financial and staff management. Following the retirement of Dr
Caplan in 1993, Dr Shetty joined the practice and took over as senior partner upon Dr
Mukherjee's retirement in 2004. Following retirement, Dr Mukherjee moved to London,
where he pursued his loves of travel, art, reading and above all cooking. He particularly loved
spending time with his grand-daughters Aparna and Aradhana.
However, Dr Mukherjee's first and utmost concern was for his patients. He was 'my doctor'
to generations of people from Sunderland, and in particular continued his interest in the
treatment of children. Recognising the suffering that childhood asthma was causing in his
patients, he started swimming classes for asthmatic children in Crowtree Leisure Centre,
drawing the attention of David Wilkie, Olympic gold medallist and the media. The parents of
the children testified to the beneficial effects of the swimming classes on their children's
school-life.
Dr Mukherjee's professional life is not only a tribute to him, but to the thousands of
healthcare professionals who migrated to the UK in the 1960's and 70's and continued the
improvement of its greatest asset, the National Health Service.