Many of us might have come across Chetan Bhaghat’s brilliant work called “Five Point Someone” ,which gives us a glimpse of how life is like in a IIT .Five Point Someone is a story about three friends in IIT who are unable to cope.I really enjoyed reading this book but being a doctor my subconscience wished for a book on the same roads ,but in the country of medicine .

And my wish was fulfilled when today i read one article featuring a book called INTERN-a doctor’s initiation by Sandeep Jauhar (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2036).I have not read this book yet but i am sure it will definitely give the long needed glimpse into an interns life .

Well this Sandeep is Sandeep Jauhar but my name is Sandeep Moolchandani…anyways name doesnt matter…every young doctor’s story is on the same lines…i am sure that you will be having your own version….

I come across lots of people who think that becoming a doctor is fun and once you pass out of the medical school, life will come on fast track and the struggle for existence will end . Every another middle class family wants their son or daughter to become a doctor and bring fame and economic support to the family and thus in this spree the aspiring doctor of the family aboards this Night’s train and starts dreaming….there will be a clinic and patients lined up waiting for their turn…..Ting tong…sandeep..wake up…come out of dreams…its not the time to dream, its not a time to sleep…you are on 24 hrs duty today..look accident cases are lined up…sutures have to be put…dressings have to be done…investigations have to be taken…case sheets have to be written…seniors are to be informed…dues have to be given…tomorrow this case has to be presented….today evening pre op preparations have to be done…tomorrow morning blood sugar sample has to be taken…aaaaaaaaaaa……

When somebody’s loved one suffers a trauma in a road traffic accident ,while flying his bike at 120kmph…and…pulse not felt…heart sounds not present…pupils dilated ..bilateral femur fracture…multiple rib fractures…they think doctor is there he will save him, we believe in him…. But nobody understands….and all the beliefs are shattered on seeing that peculiar expression on doctor’s face and “i am sorry”…then the anger shows its dirty face and everyone knows that people in India know very well “how to beat up doctors when their loved one suffered trauma and expired in a road traffic accident ,while flying his bike at 120kmph…dilated pupil..bilateral femur fracture…multiple rib fractures…”

All this and many more incidences happen in the looms of a government hospital where everyday thousands of patients are treated for diseases many of which are considered as contagious but the hospital authorities fail to supply masks and gloves to you….many a times you use the same gloves for 3-4 patients…and when you complain to your chief he says that the staff nurse is in-charge of supplies..when you complain to the staff nurse she says that the hospital is short of supplies …and then you hear the news that one of your colleagues,an intern, is suffering from high fever and she has been admitted…then some juniors tell you that some students have also been admitted with complaints of fever…but you are so busy that you think that you will go tomorrow and wish them good health. But to your extreme shock,your colleague had an attack of seizures in early morning and went for a respiratory arrest….and here all the drama starts, a series of exchanges of blames..counter blames..counter counter blames start between the authorities and the students. But in your mind many questions arise..”was it a malaria for which she was being empirically treated”,”was it viral meningitis or a meningococcal meningitis”…. but even today nobody knows what was the exact diagnoses .

Then there are some days when you join a night duty as a casualty medical officer in a private hospital for a handsome sum of Rs 8000/month thinking that it might ease upon the burden you are putting up on your parents who are counting the years to their retirement and then a 5 yr old male child is brought by the attenders with complaints of 15 episodes of diarrhoea and 6 episodes of vomiting in last 24 hrs and you think that the child can go in for a pre renal failure…and the child needs an in-patient care…but they question your decision by saying that its just a diarrhoea…every child suffers from diarrhoea…what is the need for admission !! But you somehow convince them to get the child admitted then they ask you for some discount in hospital charges which amounts to a sum of Rs 7000 as a deposit in favour of the hospital administration…and then you try to convince them that its not upon you,the discounts or whatever rests with the hospital administration..and then they eye you with an expression of suspicion that this doctor is in look out for commission..

But not all days are like this …somedays you will complete your no-sleep backlog of 4 days and go to watch a movie…somedays one of the post op patient will thank you for all the care you take of him…somedays your seniors will give you a chance for making a nick in a hydrocoele…somedays are actually better than the other days….you will cherish those somedays all your life….