Reflections on Medicine and Life by Dr. S.P. Kalantri
I have given hundreds of talks in my life. Lectures to medical students, presentations at conferences, seminars on diagnostics and evidence-based medicine. For all of them I prepared slides. Dozens of them, sometimes. When Dr Pankaj Harkut, cardiologist from Nagpur, invited me to speak on dying with dignity at a physicians and cardiologists conference in … Read the essay
Names tell stories. They show what parents prize, what generations chase, and how society slowly changes. At MGIMS Sevagram, I’ve been tending a simple spreadsheet since 2012, logging every student from the inaugural 1969 batch through to 2024 — 3,978 names across 55 years. I entered them myself, batch by batch, correcting misspellings and filling … Read the essay
Yesterday, I was in Kolkata for just a few hours. I called her on the phone and told her I was in Alipore. “Alipore, sir?” she said, “I’ll come right over.” She hadn’t even finished rounding on her patients, but she made time to meet me—for a single cup of tea. I hadn’t realised how … Read the essay
Physicians vary greatly: some prioritize art, others science; some are humble, others overconfident; some are bold, others cautious; some trust intuition, others data. Where did Dr. A.P. Jain fit among them? Nowhere and everywhere. He was art and science, instinct and intellect. He revered the power of physical signs but never dismissed modern technology. He … Read the essay
The girl was born in Gondia, the youngest of six, the apple of her father’s eye. While her family thrived in business, she set her sights on medicine. She pursued her MBBS at Government Medical College, Nagpur. The year was 1966. During her undergraduate years, one man recognized her brilliance—Dr. G.S. Sainani, the head of … Read the essay