London: An Indian-origin woman is believed to have become Britain's youngster doctor, preparing to start work at the age of 22, a newspaper reported.

Heenal Raichura was accepted into university to study medicine in 2002 when she was 16, after an exceptional school record that saw her race several years ahead of her classmates.

She is to start work at the University College London Hospital where she hopes to become a surgeon, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Raichura said: "It's quite a surreal feeling to actually, finally, become a doctor after six years of a degree. To finally come out at the end and say, 'I'm a doctor', my childhood dream, is an indescribable feeling."

She took her GCSEs (class 11) examinations at the age of 14 and obtained the best results in her school that year.

On top of the normal five years of medical study, she also spent an extra year to get a degree in Anatomy and Developmental Biology from the University College of London. IANS