Dr truly honoured and humbled by his award

A child psychiatrist who fled war-torn Afghanistan as a teenager and went on to create a mental health service for vulnerable youngsters in Wakefield has been honoured.
6 January 2018 .......   A child psychiatrist who fled war-torn Afghanistan as a teenager and went on to create a mental health service for  youngsters in Wakefield has been honoured with a national award. Dr Abdullah Kraam, now of Menston, has been given a British Citizen Award for his services to healthcare.  Picture Tony Johnson6 January 2018 .......   A child psychiatrist who fled war-torn Afghanistan as a teenager and went on to create a mental health service for  youngsters in Wakefield has been honoured with a national award. Dr Abdullah Kraam, now of Menston, has been given a British Citizen Award for his services to healthcare.  Picture Tony Johnson
6 January 2018 ....... A child psychiatrist who fled war-torn Afghanistan as a teenager and went on to create a mental health service for youngsters in Wakefield has been honoured with a national award. Dr Abdullah Kraam, now of Menston, has been given a British Citizen Award for his services to healthcare. Picture Tony Johnson

Abdullah Kraam is to be given a British Citizen Award (BCA) for his services to healthcare. The awards recognise people who make a positive impact on society.

Dr Kraam, 53, set up the forensic child and adolescent mental health (FCAMH) service – based at Fieldhead Hospital – in 2010.

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It works with children and young people caught up in the in the criminal justice system.

Dr Kraam fled from Kabul to Germany the year after the Soviet-Afghan war began in 1979. He moved to England in 1999 and became a consultant at the children and family unit at St James’s Hospital in 2004 before leaving to start FCAMH.

Dr Kraam said: “This award has a very special and personal meaning for me as a refugee from Afghanistan who was brought up in Germany and is living in England. The award says to me: ‘Thank you for your work. You and your family are more than welcome to stay in this country’.​ And this is a message we have been longing for.

“I feel truly honoured and humbled but also proud.” He will be honoured at the Palace of Westminster on January 25.