Sutured Dreams

It was around 10 years ago and I was in final year MBBS. To be perfectly honest, even after almost 4 years as a medical student, I still barely had much of an idea about how the actual practice of medicine was like.  It is only really during internship that we truly begin to understand about the different aspects of practicing medicine that you won't find in textbooks. One of those is how to counsel a person that he/she will require surgery.  Crash So one of my batchmates' father got into a road traffic crash and sustained an intraarticular distal radius fracture. This means the fracture is going into the joint and usually will require surgery. This was communicated to the family by the senior resident of Orthopaedics on duty that day.  While this was explained in calm and detailed manner on multiple occasions to multiple family members, there was a group sense of denial which was expressed in a range of insults to the doctor, referring to him as "Just a PG". This sen...

 From the little experience I've had over the years, one thing has become clear: politicians and doctors in charge of hospitals share a uniquely complex relationship. Doctors often complain—sometimes justifiably—about the lack of political support or the inability of politicians to understand the nuances of healthcare. Yet, every now and then, a politician does help keep things honest. Like it or not, meaningful progress in peripheral hospitals doesn't come from medical staff alone. It often takes a committed local leader—someone who genuinely wants to improve healthcare for their constituents—to drive change. This becomes especially important when the medical officer in charge is slow to act, which, to be fair, isn't uncommon—particularly when the doctor isn't from the community they serve. That said, not all politicians are driven by public welfare. Some are more interested in headlines than health outcomes, especially when elections are around the corner. These ind...