Dr Jacob Koshy is a graduate of the M.S Ramaiah Medical College in Bangalore, India. He completed his vocational training in anaesthesia at the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore, India before migrating to Australia as a specialist international medical graduate in 2005. His move took him to central Australia, where he took on a role as a senior registrar at the Alice Springs Hospital. He obtained his FANZCA in 2007 and remained in Alice Springs Hospital as a staff specialist, progressing to the director of anaesthetics and pain medicine, a role that he still holds today.
For the past 20 years, Jacob has been a consistent source of wisdom and support to thosehe works with in Alice Springs. He has led by example, fostering a culture of excellence in a service challenged by its geographical isolation and high burden of complex health burden. Over his career, he recognised the need to deliver culturally safe care to the local First Nations people and continues to advocate for the needs of one of the most marginalised communities in Australia.
He has supported Alice Springs Hospital to become a training site suitable for ANZCA training for up to 104 weeks and rural generalist anaesthesia training. Jacob also recognised the importance of providing a pain service to the community.
Through his collaborative and compassionate leadership, there has been a chronic pain service in Alice Springs for the past 17 years. This service has been supported by specialist pain medicine physicians from Adelaide, but the continuity of care has been delivered by Jacob between the specialist visits.