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!

Shopping Spree

This week Lucy and I are meeting with various doctors and research officers to get a feel for the type of research projects we might want to work on. In the morning we headed over to the CMC hospital and met with Dhivya Anbu, who is a PhD candidate working on probiotics trial for prevention of diarrhea caused by rotavirus and cryptosporidium spp. In the afternoon we met with Dr. Rajiv Sarkar and Deepthi Kattula at Community Health Training Center (CHTC) on CMC campus. They were Fogarty scholars in the past years, and their research involves cryptosporidium in children (e.g. change in immune response over time in chronically infected children). Because our mentor Dr. Kang is in the gastrointestinal department, much of their research pertains to diarrheal diseases.

I have a lot of personal experience with diarrheal diseases (parasitic in particular), so I would definitely be interested in doing research in that field. We're scheduled to meet with people from other departments, so I'm excited to see what opportunities are out there as well. I can already tell that I'm going to have a hard time deciding on a project (or two) because there are so many different options here.

Harish Bakery

After our meeting with Dhivya in the morning, I went to the Eye Hospital to pick up my new pair of glasses (I can SEE now!). Then I walked over to Harish Bakery (my new favorite bakery in town) for lunch and got a variety of savory baked goods to go (I like their "puffs").

Next to the bakery is the Harish Grocery Store where you can get lots of imported food, toiletries, and household items (at marked up prices, of course). So I bought some food and a bunch of other stuff, such as insecticide spray, body wash, and hair conditioner (yes, guys use conditioners too... right? How else am I supposed to keep my hair nice and silky?).

One of the surprisingly expensive things in India is toilet paper. Four rolls of TP cost Rs180 (about $4.00)!

After our meeting with Dr. Sarkar and Deepthi this afternoon, I went over to the CMC College Store for more groceries, and stopped by the street vendors for some fruits and vegetables. I also got a new pair of sandals for Rs150 (compared to Rs180 for 4 rolls of TP).

One thing I couldn't find anywhere was insect repellent spray. The best I could find was insect repellent cream at the College Store. I'm not too worried about malaria since it's not endemic in Vellore, but I definitely don't want dengue fever.

I still need to buy some slacks and short-sleeve button-up shirts since a lot of men wear those to work here. I would wear shorts and t-shirts with flip-flops everywhere everyday, but I probably should try not to stand out too much.

Praise God for another great day in India! I actually felt pretty productive today, learning about all these research projects and getting a lot of shopping done. One thing missing from the day is a trip to the swimming pool, which unfortunately is closed on Mondays.