The Chase star Paul Sinha has revealed he was asked to “prove I’m a UK citizen” by his NHS trust, describing the ordeal as a “bureaucratic nightmare”.
The 53-year-old comedian is also a former GP and receives a pension from the NHS,
In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Luton-born Sinha said his NHS trust has asked for “several documents proving I’m a UK citizen” including copies of his passport and utility bills, calling the whole affair “an unfortunate shambles”.
Sinha wrote: “Received an official letter from my NHS trust demanding I provide several documents proving I’m a UK citizen, despite my protestations about having lived here my entire life. Feel like Jonathan Pryce in Brazil, and it’s not pleasant.”
He continued: “I have eight days to scan and email over my passport and three utility bills. In the meantime another NHS trust is happily looking after another aspect of my health without alarm. An unpleasant shambles.”
Popularly known as “The Sinnerman” on ITV’s The Chase, Sinha noted that while the correspondence may have been result of a “computer glitch”, he had nonetheless become trapped in a “bureaucratic nightmare” because “my bills are paperless”.
A representative for Sinha declined further comment.
Sinha was born to Indian parents at Luton & Dunstable hospital, where his father was working as a surgeon.
“My dad was a surgeon at the L&D Hospital and we were living in hospital accomodation at the time,” he previously told Luton-based comedy club Specs. “My mum also worked at the hospital as a midwife.”
He is also a qualified doctor, having received his training at St George’s hospital in London before becoming a GP in 1995.
In 2019, Sinha announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder, in a candid, heartfelt blog post titled “Diagnosed”.
“It was a devastating denouement to a medical odyssey that began in September 2017 with a sudden-onset, frozen right shoulder, and took in an unexpected diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, a lifestyle transformation that enabled me to lose two stone, and a shoulder operation in January this year,” the quiz master wrote at the time. “In the time since my Parkinson’s started I have been ludicrously busy, and fully intend to keep Chasing, keep writing and performing comedy, keep quizzing and keep being hopeless at Tasks.
“Dancing on Ice is, I suspect, out of the question,” he quipped at the time, referring to the popular ITV British reality series.
