Dr Angraj Khillan, who hails from Essendon, has been named Victoria’s Australian of the Year. Khillan is an Australian-Indian paediatrician who has been honoured for delivering key healthcare and health education to several Australian communities.
Khillan has also worked with Australia’s aboriginal communities, several news media outlets reported. He is known as the fly-in fly-out paediatrician among the members of the remote aboriginal communities of Australia.
There were three other Victoria Australian of the Year awardees as well – Professor Frank Oberklaid, was awarded Victoria’s Senior Australian of the Year lindaand the Victorian Young Australian of the Year went to Darcy McGauley-Bartlett and Belinda Young received the Victoria Local Hero Award.
Khillan moved to Australia in 2004 and to Melbourne in 2010. He sold offerings and flowers outside temples in India to provide for his education. He founded the Health Awareness Society of Australia (HASA) in 2018 to dispel taboos, myths and misinformation about health.
HASA has volunteers who host forums and virtual sessions in English, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Arabic on topics ranging from mental health to Covid-19 vaccinations.
“We are trying to remove the social stigma and taboo attached within multicultural communities when they are diagnosed with mental health issues,” Dr Raj said, outlining the kind of work HASA does.
“Congratulations to paediatrician Dr Angraj Khillan, 2023 Victorian Australian of the Year. Dr Khillan has changed lives by delivering healthcare and health education to culturally diverse communities across Australia,” Victoria governor Linda Dessau posted shortly after presenting him the award.
Dr Khillan is popularly known as Dr Raj and has also worked actively with organisations to raise awareness of domestic violence and dowry abuse.
He worked for the Royal Darwin Hospital and is involved with Western Specialist centre, Western Health and is a member of the The Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
He is also the founder of Doctors Against Domestic Violence Group.
He is also the winner of multiple awards. Dr Raj several awards including the 2019 Small Business Champion Awards, 2019 India Australia Business and Community Awards, 2017 Victorian Multicultural Awards for Excellence and 2019 Wyndham Business Awards among other honours.
(with inputs from the Australia Today and the Age)
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