Urban Slums

Riding in the back of a motorcycle... without a helmet!

Most of the morning today was spent in one of the urban slum areas where the two cohort studies on cryptococcal diarrhea are done. Lucy and I had to each ride on the back of a motorcycle to get there because apparently it's very difficult to get around the area by car. We visited homes where children are enrolled in the studies. It was quite interesting to see the environments where people live. Even within the same area, there were big contrasts in living conditions among homes.

We also spent some time at one of the pediatric clinics, and observed a local pediatrician while she saw some patients. Most of the kids seemed to have upper respiratory infections.

Lucy on a motorcycle.

In the afternoon, we went to the Low Cost Effective Care Unit (LCECU), and met with Dr. Sushil John, who is one of the family medicine doctors there. LCECU provides care to the poor in the local urban slum at very low cost, and if they need a costly procedure or therapy, patients pay whatever they can, and the clinic helps find funding for them. Dr. Sushil gave us a little powerpoint presentation about LCECU which got me really excited, because it was all about what I want to do as a physician in the future. So I hope to learn as much as I can from LCECU this year, and apply it to my future practice wherever I may be.

After the presentation, we walked around the area near the LCECU, and met some of Dr. Sushil's patients at their homes. As we walked, he said things like "That man there has hypertension... this lady walking towards us had a baby with myelomeningocele... the man who lives here is an alcoholic... this boy has seizure disorder..." It was as if he knew everyone in the area, and it seemed everyone knew him too. People came up to him left and right with their charts just to update him on how they were doing, and he explained to us what were the issues with each of them.

The Low Cost Effective Care Unit.

Interestingly, patients at LCECU keep their charts with them at their homes, so when doctors from LCECU do home visits they would have their charts right there. It also saves the clinic a lot of money by not having to keep medical records. Dr. Sushil admitted that there maybe legal issues elsewhere, but here, having charts at patient's home is a very cost effective way that puts patient's care first. I definitely want to spend more time at LCECU during my year in India.

The long day was completed with a quick dip in the pool and meeting with some more international med students.

Praise God for another exciting day!