BlueKit Medical and its founder, Rajendra Kylaso Pathan 


Words by Rebecca Porter, Managing Director of BlueKit Medical

Behind every business is a story to be told, and this is the story of my father.

My dad came to this country from Mauritius in 1970, when England was a very different place.

He would often recall the trench coats, bowler hats, and brief cases that would tread the city pavements in complete uniformity back and forth in rush hour, but this would be a novel sight when he travelled down from Sheffield to London for work. 

Sheffield was my dad’s first home and the place he regarded most fondly throughout his life. It was the birthplace of his life in the UK, the origins of his family and his career.

He’d taken an enormous gamble on life, applying for a place at nursing college from his home in Port Louis, and the dice fell in his favour. The family, not just mother and father, but aunties and uncles and cousins too, would’ve scrabbled together funds to put into his bank account to ensure he was granted a visa to study in England; but, realistically, he came with very little besides determination, intellect, and passion for life.

It was at Lodge Moor Hospital that he met my mum, a quiet, reserved girl from a small village south of Rotherham, with the same burning passion to move away from her beginnings and carve out a place for herself in the world.

They qualified in their respective fields, my mum an RMN and dad an RGN, and, very early on, my dad marked out a professional career in theatre, learning the role of the theatre nurse.

From the mining town of Chapeltown, where folk were friendly, courteous, and caring, (for the most part), they moved to the starkly different climes of Thornton Heath in Croydon, where folk weren’t quite as friendly or quite as courteous, and they didn’t casually greet you in passing! Yet, it was on the doorstep of London and was a gateway to opportunity.

Here, my dad advanced his skills in theatre, engaging his training as surgeons’ assistant and becoming a formidable and dependable Surgical First Assistant.

After many years working in the NHS, he moved on to Harley Street Hospital, and finally, the Cromwell Hospital, where he became the trusted hands of brilliant surgeons like Professor David Nott OBE, Mr Samuel Orakwe, and Mr Rajiv Vashisht. His expertise would even have him travel the world to assist.

With retirement around the corner and growing tired of the office constraints that came with being a Theatre Manager, my dad wanted to find a new adventure: the adventure that became, BlueKit Medical. This was an adventure that was driven by a vison to enhance the surgical experience, improve the patient journey, and to create something that mattered.

Like raising a child, he considered it a baby, an independent life that we had to nurture and grow, desperately caring and giving it everything, but allowing it to find its own path. And so it did, gradually finding its way to specialising in Surgical Instruments and Procedure Packs in Primary Care.

With my father’s incredible knowledge of surgical instruments and drapes, his professional ingenuity, and willingness to work with other professionals to tailor the end product, BlueKit became well regarded for high quality and dependable output.

Learning from the professionals themselves, BlueKit has become a reputable and reliable brand, and one that those same professionals have been willing to trust and support.

My dad had passion for improving things, he was an inventor, even inventing the first patient bed with a rotating cover to assist with the healing and prevention of pressure sores back in 1982!   

His vivacity and enthusiasm would spread to those around him, his warmth was forever welcoming, and his smile enchanting. As a father and an individual, he was the paragon of dependability, always available, always present, and always constant.

These are the assets I hope BlueKit engenders, always representing him as his legacy: vivacious, enthusiastic, welcoming, enchanting, and dependable.

Rajen lived with strength and resilience until his last breath in the presence of his family, and we will be eternally proud of him.

The journey continues: like water, the shape of it changes, but it never ends, and as we move into a new chapter, I will do the very best I can to nurture the values he held dear.