I did my internship at King George’s Medical University in the city of Lucknow in India. For those unaware, Lucknow is a historical city which became one of the epicenters of the Indian independence movement against colonial rule. King George’s Medical University has a publicly funded hospital where one can get a coronary bypass grafting …
“One day I found myself looking down onto the train tracks, toes jutting over the edge of the platform.“ Why do we suffer? Is constant suffering a part of my destiny? Is there ever any Hope? I was racially bullied in my formative years while attending predominantly white private schools. This created my hyper-competitive,overachieving identity in …
“Doctors are measured in how they speak to people because we want to celebrate success, but we also want to make sure that people understand not everyone will be successful with their treatment.“ My original plan was to solely become a paediatric anaesthesia doctor, but I changed completely to also become a sleep medicine doctor, …
“How would you deal with a patient in this situation?” Even after so many years, I find myself often talking to other scientific experts or clinicians to ask for opinions in complex scenarios. I had a patient who wanted to travel abroad to explore a novel treatment for premature menopause (which is not available in …
“It’s a common situation with medics I think; we often subconsciously consider ourselves immune to the conditions we deal with.“ For me, things started to change in July 2020 when I became one of the first people to volunteer for the AstraZeneca vaccine trial. It was a turning point for me. Most of the hard …
One of the situations that impacted me personally in the clinic was a patient with post-traumatic stress disorder. She had a lot of difficulties in her personal life, and really had been through a lot. She was taking antidepressants but had neglected her general health which led to several medical complications. She was now in …
“Every time I moved I had left things behind – like not being around when my best friend gets married, or when another close friend has a baby – and I needed to tell myself that I was okay missing out on those things.“ Pursuing residency (specialty training) in the US was something that I …
I’ve also really suffered from the loss of relationship and connectiveness with the long covid and the pandemic. All the days of let’s-meet-for-coffees are long gone. I just don’t have the extra energy. Even when I try, I often ended up cancelling, and well, people just stop inviting you after a while. My smartphone has …
“Balancing my research, clinical job, and family life during this time took a lot out of me. Keeping an eye on the end goal and trying to stay positive obviously helped, but what really helped me overcome this period was the support from my colleagues and my family.“ I migrated from India to pursue research …
I’m entirely employed by the NHS, but I’m also an academic. There has been a conflict between the two recently, that I hadn’t realised was a conflict in the first place. I’m now facing issues with my organization, which has had a toll on my mental health. My integrity and honesty are being questioned which …