Back to Work

I am planning to start working from April 1^st. Originally, I had planned to join back by March 1^st, but as the hospital has retained the doctor who completed her fellowship in October till April, I extended my maternity leave by another month. The official maternity leave given by the hospital I work for is 82 days. This is way more than the six weeks paid leave given in the U.S. and way less than the six months paid leave which government employees in India are entitled to. I went on leave two weeks before my delivery, so my leave expired in Jan and I have been on unpaid leave since then. I think the hospital was also happy to have me join back in April because then they wouldn’t have to pay two people in March. Yes, the legacy of monsieur Scrooge is alive and well in the medical profession in India.

I am an Ophthalmologist specializing in Paediatric eye disorders and squint. I mostly treat children with defective vision, the most common cause of which is refractive errors or glasses. I also commonly treat conditions like lazy eye, squint, infections of the eye, cataract ( Yes, it happens in children ), trauma to the eye and Nystagmus (shaking of eyes by birth ). I perform surgery on both children and adults with cataract and squint.

Eye Doctor Speaketh – Any eye disorder in a child needs immediate and appropriate treatment as it can lead to permanent, devastating  blindness. Most disorders can be rectified if treated as early as possible.

I enjoy my clinical work because I mostly treat young children with not much wrong with them ( He got paint in his eye when his brother tried to paint his face! ) which makes for a cheerful atmosphere. There are aspects of my job which I definitely don’t enjoy mostly involving numbers and graphs and revenue generation. In a charitable hospital ! A curse upon you, corporate culture ! May a swarm of locusts devour any MBA who crosses my path ! I won’t delve into the topic in any more detail because open forum and libel suites and the rest.

Anyway, just to emphasize the positive. I went on a screening eye camp to Mandla which is a backward, tribal district  near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh last year.

Children diving for coins at Marble Rocks in Jabalpur

We stayed for five days and treated about six hundred children. We also identified children who needed surgery and brought them back to Delhi for the same. They stayed in the hospital for a week, most had surgery in both eyes,were given glasses and then transported back home.Below is pictured the happy result of that effort.

 The most gratifying case was of  a 4 month old baby with congenital glaucoma in both eyes. This is a condition where increase in pressure inside the eye causes the main nerve responsible for vision to atrophy and leads to permanent blindness. We counselled the parents and rushed this baby to Delhi immediately.One year hence, this baby is completely cured thanks to a delicate surgery performed in both eyes.

  Unknown to me I was four weeks pregnant during  this trip. If I had known I obviously would not have undertaken the strenuous journey and I can’t go this year because duh, the baby. Now that my baby is out and has ten fingers and ten toes, I am really glad I went. Would I like to be a corporate suit with a Blackberry and spa vacations in Bali? Probably yes, the grass is always greener on the other side  but maybe the highs we enjoy aren’t too bad.