Science, Stories and Sevagram: A Physician-Teacher's Reflections
In 1938, in the quaint village of Sevagram, a young intern found herself facing an extraordinary task. Just 24 years old and armed with her MBBS degree, she was entrusted with the crucial responsibility of recording, treating, and monitoring the blood pressure of none other than the father of the nation himself, Mahatma Gandhi. The … Read more
Mahatma Gandhi’s Emergency Appendectomy: An Interesting Tale On January 12, 1924, Mahatma Gandhi underwent an emergency appendectomy at Sassoon Hospital in Pune. The story behind his operation is quite interesting. On January 8, 1924, Gandhiji experienced fever, abdominal pain, and nausea while in Yerawada jail. He was released and admitted to the Sassoon General Hospital … Read more
Capturing Life in Rural India: The Making of the MGIMS Mural Dinesh Gudadhe and Ashok Wahiwatkar. Two talented artists at MGIMS transformed a real photograph into a magnificent work of art that now proudly stands on the MGIMS hospital campus. Along with Hitesh Chappanghare, the trio completed an incredible eight-month-long journey of creating a stunning … Read more
In the winter of 1969, I was only a teenager, aged 13, and had just transferred from Craddock High School to Swavalambi Vidyalaya, Wardha. Television sets were as rare as a hat-trick in cricket back then, so my knowledge of cricket was limited to radio broadcasts and newspapers. However, I was a huge cricket fan, … Read more
๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ: ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ด๐ ๐ช๐ต๐ผ ๐ฆ๐๐ผ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ Thirty years ago, Dr. SK Ghosh served as the professor and head of the Department of Anatomy at MGIMS. He had a sharp wit and a kind heart that endeared him to those around him. His wife, Mrs. Laxmi, was a woman of remarkable … Read more
The early 80s were a golden era for the Medicine department at MGIMS, and it was all thanks to the “P’s” – ๐๐ฃ, ๐๐ฃ, ๐ฆ๐ฃ, ๐ข๐ฃ, and ๐๐ฃ Dr. Kamal Pervez (KP) and Dr. JP Sharma (JP) were dynamic young lecturers who were always in tune with their patients. SP Kalantri (SP), a senior registrar … Read more
The MD thesisโa daunting challenge that separates the strong from the faint-hearted. It is like a visa that grants access to the MD examination, a grueling rite of passage filled with challenges and obstacles. As the deadline looms, the pressure intensifies, and the postgraduate students start desperately hunting for two playersโa skilled statistician to generate … Read more
It was a scorching afternoon on May 4th, 1982, when I first stepped into the medicine ward at MGIMS in Sevagram. Unlike the bustling government medical college in Nagpur where I had trained, this hospital felt serene and peaceful. As I walked in, I noticed a dishevelled resident performing a pleural tap at a patient’s … Read more
A few years ago, I was invited to speak about snakebites at an annual conference in Nagpur. As a physician who had treated hundreds of patients with venomous snakebites, I was excited to share my experience. On that Sunday morning, as I arrived at the conference hall 15 minutes early, I found only two people … Read more
The Bread Man of Sevagram: A Journey of Passion and Dedication As the Bible says, โBy the sweat of your brow you will eat,โ but as I spoke to Devidas Modak this morning, I couldn’t help but wonder if a new adage was more fitting: โBy the sweetness of your bread, you will live.โ Imagine … Read more