I’ve been told to prepare this blogsite primarily to publish E-logs of patients i see, as i go on in my life as a physician. This idea was given to me by Dr. Rakesh Biswas, whom i want to dedicate this first blog to. I hope there comes a time, when i shall look back to this blog and contemplate on how far i’ve come, in my vocational life, as a physician.

It must have been the winter of 2017, when on a usual visit to my hometown, Bhopal, i met my friend Nitish. After the usual pointless talks about movies, cars and girls, we landed upon the topic of medicine: love for which we both shared. In that conversation, he mentioned about Dr. Rakesh Biswas, who used to be a professor of medicine at Nitish’s UG medical college. He told me about how rakesh sir had a distinct way of managing patients; how he used to take time to explain the pathology of the disease to a patient, and how he would refer to studies and researches, on a daily basis to help with treating the patients. All this got me curious, and i was tempted to contact sir.

Since sir had left bhopal by then, we communicated over emails where i told him that i want to learn his way of practicing the Art of medicine. He told me about “BMJ global case reports student elective” (too long right? Let’s use ‘elective’ for future reference). It was an elective programme run by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the deputy editor of which is rakesh sir. It is basically a two week training programme which is supposed to help the student understand and most likely, publish, a case report which has importance in the global scenario.

I wanted to go for this elective, but because of my preparation for the Pre-PG exam, i was unable to. It was only in May of 2019, after i cleared the exam, did i send another mail to sir asking if i could apply for the elective. It was a smooth process, and finally on 12th May, i left for Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences, in Telangana, India, where Dr. Rakesh Biswas sir is currently the professor of medicine.

My idea was to do this elective training before starting my residency, as for the next 3 years, i won’t get a chance to take leave for this long. I would like to confess that this might be the best decision i’ve taken in a long time. Now, why would a fun-loving, carefree guy like me, days before starting his hectic residency, still opt to go to for an academic experience to a remote place in telangana, instead of some sweet trip to Goa or some hill station? Read further to know:

After a failed attempt of booking a ticket to hydrabad, it was an agents’ expensive dexterity that got me a seat on a train. After loads of help from Madhav, a previous elective student, and harsha, my friend who lives in hydrabad, i planned on how i could reach the institute. So, after a long journey, travelling in uncomfortable modes of transport, including a local train, a miserable bus and a bouncy rickshaw ride, i arrived at the institute. I was provided a single seater accomodation at the boys hostel. (I wish i had an option for an air-conditioned room, as on many nights, i’d wake up because of the hot weather).

My usual day used to start at 8 am in the morning, when i would get ready for the hospital, revise some things sir told me to, and report to sir by 9 am, after having upma or mysore bonda (a speciality of the south; my personal favorite). The days would be spent in rounds, OPDs, case discussions (i do appreciate the many academic events at the institute) ending at 4 pm, when i’d go back to my room. Initially, home-sickness and language disparity made me feel lonely and sad in the evenings, but all that changed, as i made friends with the residents surrounding me. I also was supposed to present a case with a senior resident, wherein i was supposed to handle the discussion part, and it went “remarkably well”, as fortunately, whatever the professors asked, i had revised the previous day. On the last evening before i left, we also had a little music session with interns and residents, and it was an amazing experience to sing the songs which were released in hindi as well as in telegu. With a heavy heart, i left the institute on 25th May. This time the ride was shorter and easy, as my newly made friends at the institute helped me with the quickest routes and tips (including hydrabadi biryani!)

Those 12 days of my elective were an academic treat! I had never enjoyed medicine this much. It was all because of the brilliant clinician, Dr. Rakesh sir: He was everything i hoped to see in my “clinical role model” and more: The patient-centred approach, the involvement of evidence based medicine into daily work, the innovative talks and discussions that followed after every case, the way he used to explain the pathology to a patient, the philosophical quotes about medicine. It was all about medicine, in a way that i had never experienced. This made me fall even deeper in love with medicine. I was finally enjoying reading those large books of medicine.

The most important thing i learned from the elective was the art of practicing medicine: the patient-centred learning. I hope to imbibe the style of Dr. Rakesh Biswas sir in my daily practice and hope to meet him soon, probably for another elective training under him.

Till then, keep looking for my blogs for E-logs and articles about random questions and possibly answers to them as i came about, in my rounds with sir, and later, in my residency at Bhopal. Also, my global case report for the BMJ journal is being prepared as i write this blog. So be on a lookout for my publication!