Gratitude and a Pair of Scrubs

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 …

Out of the abyss

“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 …

Doctor’s Helpline

“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, …

The Physician Paradox

“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 …

Wisdom of trauma

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 …

A Lion’s Larynx

“Academic surgeons push boundaries, as we are the first to develop new technology and use them in patients. This is inherently very risky” As a clinical academic, I have developed a career that is partially science and partially surgery. My current research work focuses on the use of implantable robots to overcome any form of …

Living abroad

“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 …