It has been a real treat for me to be a part of our fourth Global Health Elective in Punjab, India. Bookended around one of India's national Anesthesiology conferences (RSCACPCON) - hosted in Amritsar - our largest team yet (4 faculty, 2 fellows, and 2 residents) has been able to participate, learn, and lecture alongside our local Punjabi colleagues. In addition, India has been an excellent backdrop in which to sift through ERAS and get excited for this year's application season!
Here is an excerpt from the resident's (CA3's Jingyi Li and Shiyin Zhu) travel journal :
"Landed in Amritsar on Sunday 9-27. Despite being exhausted and jetlagged, we went to the Harmandir Sahib aka the Golden Temple, the center of the Sikh religion. At night the temple glows amidst a large reflection pool. We sipped on the delicious cha (chai) as we reflected on the beauty of the historic temple. In addition to the Sikh gurdwara, we were able to visit other illuminating places of worship, including a couple of Muslim mosques and several Hindu temples.
The main hospital we are working at is called Sri Guru Ram Das Hospital. The first day, we were met by the chair of the department, Dr. Ruchi Gupta, who has been swamped with work preparing for an upcoming national anesthesia conference at the hospital. We a saw a variety of regional and general techniques. Although many of the basic techniques are similar, there were clear differences in drug availabilities and usage, a consequence of economic and social factors. For example, they sparingly use narcotics as a result of epidemic drug abuse, and as such utilize multimodal analgesia emphasizing regional techniques.
We visited a charity grade school in a poor district of Maqboolpura for children of families affected by drug addiction. The children, grades kindergarten to 8th, greeted us in unison with a well rehearsed welcome, addressing us as “sir” and “ma’am.” Dr. Brumberger noted that he has never seen children of these ages so well behaved.
No trip is complete without partaking in the local cuisine. We enjoy delicious, fragrant cha breaks multiple time each day. Punjabi food is often fried and rich in butter, spices, in one word, DELICIOUS. We have tried the local famous fish preparations, chicken, mutton, multiple vegetables, you name it. Each meal is a new culinary adventure!"
We'll have additional updates from the residents as our travels unfold.
EB