Magic Masala Potato Chips and Other Amazing Things in Hyderbad

As you can tell by the previous posts, we made it safely to Hyderabad and have been touring the facilities at Sivnanda Rehabilitation Hospital (Check out their video if you have not seen it yet). I have been blown away by the hospitality they have shown us in our two days here and the keen interest they have taken in our education.

Today, we received a lecture on the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme from one of the most self-less and compassionate physicians I have met in all my travels. Dr. V. Reddy is a spry 70-something year old gentleman who ‘retired’ in 1995, only to join the group at Shivananda as the RNTCP was just getting going. The Programme was a huge undertaking by the central government to attempt to better diagnosis and treat the millions of people afflicted with TB. It involved setting up multiple clinics and start directly observed treatment of TB. Since the programme went nationally in 2006, it is estimated it has saved over 1.1 million lives. Dr. Reddy is personally responsible for the TB care of over half a million people in his cachement area and oversees about 5 smaller clinics. And he does this all for free. And to top it off, he has started working at a Perinatal Clinic trying to prevent materal-child transmission of HIV because he no one else would do, so he volunteered (for free). He was truly inspiring and makes me feel like I am not doing enough.

Other Amazing Things in Hyderabad:

1.) The Lays Magic Masala Potato Chips. They go well with the Thums Up soda.

2.) The stories of the children in the AIDS orphanage. Amazing in a different sense of word. Others will blog with details, but stoic Tim felt tears well-up in his eyes hearing who these poor children were ostracized by their families and shunned by their community. Thank God they have found a home at Sivananda.

UPDATE: KBA, I have learned why they don’t use Mother’s Milk empirically here. Ceftriaxone has better Salmonella coverage and about 20% of the positive blood cultures at MGMCRI&RI grew Salmonella.

Naughty tomatoes

I must say that the naughty tomatoes did not stand a chance to the mint mischief.  As tantalizing as the package looked, they were very disappointing.  As you have heard, we are currently having a great time in Hyderabad.  I don’t think anyone has hardly mentioned the train ride.  I was very leery as we were walking along the train looking for our car, however it turned out to be a very comfortable ride.  At least for those of us who did not have to stay with men engaged in secretive conversations or sleep with our suitcase (right Tim?).  If you ever plan to travel by train in India, I highly recommend 1st class with a/c.  Definitely beats the open-air, overcrowded wooden benches of the 2nd, 3rd? class that we passed by.  We arrived at the station only about an hour late, which is probably considered to be on-time here.

We spent our first day in Hyderabad relaxing at the fantastic apt that we are staying in and getting to know our new friends.  Emily, a 2nd year medical student from Chicago who is staying at Sivananda for 3months, and Shobha, an ID attending from NY that Gopal has previously mentioned (you may have noticed her blogs) hung out with us for the afternoon as we went over our presentations.  I gave my leprosy talk, Tim educated us on TB and Brooke discussed the ethics of HIV in India.  Our talks initiated some interesting discussions about the various topics and International health in general.  It was very invigorating to share thoughts, ideas and experiences with others who are interested in travel and making a difference in the world.

Today we had our first visit to Sivananda, which was absolutely amazing.  I am so impressed with the work that is being done at this facility.  After researching and giving a talk on leprosy, it was very interesting to hear about the disease from an expert and see pts first-hand.  Based on the pt’s eagerness to participate, it is obvious that they have created a very supportive and accepting environment in which leprosy pt’s can undergo treatment and rehabilitation.  The results they are acheiving with the reconstructive surgeries is impressive.  I am looking forward to our next couple of days there, especially our time tomorrow with the orphan children.