Nottingham A-level refugee 'won't give up medicine dream'

The medical support Zainab Fadhal received for PTSD has influenced her to study medicine

A teenage refugee has said she will not give up her dream of becoming a medic despite being caught up in this year's A-level downgrading.

Zainab Fadhal, 19, from Clifton in Nottingham, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after moving to the UK from Iraq.

However her hopes of studying medicine were dashed when her results were downgraded.

Nottingham College said she has worked "extremely hard".

Miss Fadhal initially received a B in psychology, C in biology and D in chemistry, below the ABC grades she received in her mocks.

After the government U-turn days later her grades were moved to BBC but by then the medicine course at the University of Plymouth was full.

She has now decided to resit her chemistry exam and reapply next year.

"I was devastated," she said. "At first I thought it was just me and that I didn't try hard enough and it was all my fault.

"I was completely lost. The grades were so far off what I was getting in all my exams and I had a bad panic attack.

"When I moved to England I never thought I would be treated unfairly in this country but with this ordeal I can't help but think we have been treated unfairly."

Zainab, aged six in Iraq, where she said it would have been difficult for her to pursue a career in medicine

Miss Fadhal moved to the UK from Iraq in 2014 when she was 14 years old after having witnessed an attack on her primary school.

She said: "The ordeal I'd suffered sparked my PTSD and receiving the medical support I did made me realise medicine is something I want to pursue as a career.

"In Iraq I would never have been able to go to university or be a doctor. That is saved only for the rich people or those with power so you would sit unfair exams with no regulations.

"It would have been impossible for me to get into university."

Even when she moved to England, some teachers told her that she would not be able to study medicine because she needed to improve her English.

"It has been a battle," she said. "I have learnt a second language and worked so hard.

"There have been a lot of stumbles but I have a clear focus."

Professor Hisham Khalil who heads the Peninsula Medical School at the University of Plymouth, said he wished Miss Fadhal "every success".

"[We] would welcome her application to join us next year if that's what she decides to do," he added.

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