Sahira Shah

Sahira Shah
Holby City character
Laila Rouass as Sahira Shah
First appearance	"Blue Valentine" 15 February 2011
Last appearance	"Ribbons" 17 April 2012
Created by	Belinda Campbell
Portrayed by	Laila Rouass
Information
Occupation	Cardiothoracic surgical registrar

Sahira Shah is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Holby City, played by actress Laila Rouass. Sahira is employed at Holby City Hospital as a Cardiothoracic surgical registrar. She is an old acquaintance of Henrik Hanssen (Guy Henry) who is the CEO and Director of Surgery at the hospital. She has been portrayed as an honest character with a "warm heart". She approaches her career with perfectionist tendencies which is compromised by her emotional vulnerability. Her main relationships were with Henrik, friendship with registrar Greg Douglas (Edward MacLiam) and a feud with consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Jac Naylor (Rosie Marcel). Rouass later decided to leave the show.

Sahira arrives at Holby City Hospital as a registrar on the cardiothoracic surgery ward, Darwin. Having taken time out from her career to have two children, she is assigned a mentor – a reluctant Jac Naylor (Rosie Marcel), who sees her as a potential rival. It emerges that Sahira took the job at the behest of Director of Surgery Henrik Hanssen (Guy Henry), who she worked under at three previous hospitals. Tasked with managing budget cuts, Hanssen is looking to make staff redundancies, and asks Sahira to report to him on the capability of registrar Greg Douglas (Edward MacLiam). Although Greg struggles in an operation, Sahira claims that he is an excellent surgeon. She tells Hanssen that she will not be his spy, and does not want special favours from him in return. Hanssen therefore reneges on his promise to allow Sahira to work flexitime. With a consultant position available, Sahira decides to apply, which pits her against Jac. Greg feels that Sahira is taking liberties by arranging her childcare schedule on duty and delegating patient care to him. He suggests that she is incapable of balancing her personal and professional life, but feels guilty when Sahira subsequently struggles in an operation and is berated by Hanssen. On the day of the consultant interviews, Sahira becomes emotionally involved in a patient's plight and misses her interview slot, so Jac is awarded the position by default. Greg later oversteps Sahira to take the lead on the case of a teenage girl with a rare heart condition. He is devastated when she dies in theatre, and breaks Hanssen's windscreen in a drunken accident. Hanssen issues Greg with a formal warning; Sahira sympathises with him, and when he later makes a medical error, she takes the blame and resultant warning herself.