Dr Rajinder Singh Saluja was born in Burma, where he was raised before having to leave the country as communist rule took over. He left his family to study medicine in India at a young age, obtaining his Bachelors in Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) and completing his House Officer Training at Nilratam Sarcar Medical College. En route to visit his brother in America, he was offered a position as a doctor in England — an opportunity he accepted without hesitation.
He began his UK career at the Clinical Assessment Unit at Luton & Dunstable Hospital in 1974, going on to complete his Senior House Officer posts at the Lister Hospital (Stevenage), Bury General Hospital (Lancashire), and the QEII Hospital (Welwyn Garden City). During this period he developed a specialist interest in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, completing his Part 1 MRCOG and being entered on the Obstetric Specialist Register. He was among the first cohort to complete the new GP Vocational Training Scheme in 1977, under the supervision of Dr J Hersey at St Michael's House.
He joined a GP practice in Feltham and Teddington as a GP Partner from 1978 to 1986. In 1986, following a rigorous selection process, he was chosen from over 30 competing GPs to take over a retiring GP's practice in Southall — becoming the first ethnic minority GP in the area. The practice, initially named the Arog Medical Centre on Trinity Road, started with a patient list of just 400. His fluency in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Burmese, Bengali and English quickly attracted patients who had struggled to communicate with other doctors, and his former patients from Feltham re-registered to remain under his care.
In 1997 he opened the current site — The Saluja Clinic — which has grown to serve over 10,000 registered patients. In 1999 he qualified as a Forensic Medical Examiner (Police Surgeon) covering West London, attending police stations for medical examinations and acting as a professional witness in court. In 2000 he was selected by the Metropolitan Police Service as one of only three doctors to care for patients at London Heathrow Customs Detention Centre — a role he held until 2016 when he stepped back to focus fully on general practice.
Dr Rajinder currently remains as GP Principal and Senior Partner, working alongside his son Dr Angad, and serves as a board member of several charitable trusts in his spare time.