Refugee medic rebuilds his career in ultrasound unit

A refugee medic who fled from imprisonment and persecution in Sudan to settle in north-east England has rebuilt his career by volunteering at the town’s hospital.

Ahmed Bakheet, 40, feared he would never be able to use his skills and training again after ending up homeless and barred from working while waiting for his asylum case to be processed.

But after being granted refugee status in 2025, he began volunteering at North Tees Hospital in his new home town of Stockton-on-Tees.

His skills were quickly recognised and he is back in paid work as a sonographer, using ultrasound to perform scans on women in the advanced stages of pregnancy. Bakheet said he wanted to “give back to this community”.

He said he initially left war-torn Sudan in 2010 because of his opposition to the regime. After spending time training in Saudi Arabia, his medical skills secured him a work visa to enter the UK, where he took up a job.

But, after becoming concerned about the welfare of his family, he says he returned to Sudan to trace them, only to find that two of his children and his brother had been shot dead by government forces.

He says he was then arrested for political activism and tortured during six months in prison.

Following his release, he returned to the UK, only to find he had lost his job, leaving him homeless and without any income or support.

Bakheet said: “I came with a visa, a master’s degree and great hope and lots of positivity. But suddenly everything crashed down again.

“There were physical, but also mental, injuries from my return to Sudan. For a while, I was suffering from nightmares, and some nights was crying and unable to sleep.

“You just have bad memories and ask yourself what I did in my life to deserve this.”

He began an asylum claim, which took more than three years to process and was banned from working during that time.

After his claim was granted, he joined the Volunteer to Career programme offered by the national healthcare charity Helpforce.

He started assisting on the wards but, when staff discovered his skills, he was moved into the radiology department.

Helen Stewart, who is an advanced radiography practitioner at the hospital said it was clear Bakheet was going to be an asset.

“His skills were just obvious straight away. He had that natural gift with patients, qualities that take years for people to build up.

“We realised there was great potential and thought how can we help this person back into the job.”

After being given support to update his skills, Bakheet is now working for a private health provider.

His wife, Refga, and teenage son, Mo, have now joined him in Stockton and, earlier this year, another son, Ezzeldin, was born at North Tees Hospital.

He said: “All the members of staff at North Tees were very supportive and, day by day, I am now feeling like myself again.

“This country has offered me protection and provided lots of things for us, so I feel I now have to give back to this community.”

The charity that helped him is now calling for the government to invest more in programmes to help medically qualified refugees work in the NHS.

Helpforce’s chief executive Amerjit Chohan believes there is a “torrent of talent” that can help fill vacancies.

“UK healthcare continues to face significant workforce challenges while many medically qualified refugees are struggling to find routes back into careers they have spent years building.

“Ahmed’s story demonstrates the incredible resilience, experience and determination that refugee professionals can bring.

“Greater investment could help thousands more skilled clinicians rebuild their careers and put their expertise back where it belongs – caring for patients.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said volunteering programmes were primarily developed by local trusts, but the government was committed to supporting refugees to become self-sufficient and contribute to the economy.

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