24th of June - 6th day of treating .....

After a long hot day at the clinics we returned to Seva Kendra for the evening clinic. One patient presented with foot drop and muscle wastage/tingling in both hands. When collecting his history, he said that he had no previous history of disease and had never been to hospital. The patient did say that he had seen a Doctor for the tingling he as experiencing in this hands and the Doctor gave him some medicine but he was not able to recollect what the medicine was. The students diagnostic skills were put to the test. After heavy referencing, much lateral thinking and extensive neurological testing, the students came to the possible conclusion that the patient suffered from Leprosy. After discussing this with the patient, he confirmed that he had previously been diagnosed & treated for Leprosy. We have decision that he had the role of a "mystery shopper", and the students diagnostic skills passed with flying colours!

One incident of lost in translation is the word "Better". When asking patients "What makes it worse, What makes it better?" The patients only referred to what increased pain. We soon found out that "better" in Hindi is "pain" .....

We have been really lucky with the Clinicians who have come to help, Each has a strong skill set and an inspiring passion to help both patients and students, They are more than happy to discuss/ help students into the wee hours of the morning. Clinicians have contributed a great deal to each students development and much of their increased skills can be directly attributed to them. The flow and operation of each clinic comes directly from the Clinician, each has their own approach - this has maximised the benefits that each student has received. We will always be grateful for their time, skills and dedication that they have freely given.