iRADiX

"Ravi", he started "I have a lady with me; she is the daughter of a patient of mine - who recently passed away -and she has expressed a desire to donate some money to medical charity. "I thought", he carried on "the PBCF at KEM would be a good idea."

I have been head of radiology for as long as I remember-well-almost like ancient history....officially, for over 21 years and, much longer - unofficially.

I was head when I was a registrar.. I was head as a tutor.. as a lecturer.. as an AP and officially, of course, as a Professor. For as long as I remember, I have been the ‘head'. That's how my teachers and seniors treated me with care and compassion; with encouragement and enthusiasm and then stood by and watched as I "ran the show".

So, being head came naturally to me. I did not have to work for it. I had become head by default and as I often tell my friends, the saddest part of my being head here for so long is that I do not know what is to be Number 2. That's a tragedy for my long-suffering Number 2s.

I cannot believe GS traditions can change so fast....

Not since school days , do I remember standing up when a teacher walked into a lecture hall - surely, not during my two years at Ruia, not the five years at GS and of course not after joining radiology.

May be in those yesteryears we were more concerned with truly having respect that just showing it.

But, these are different times...

Each morning, we get up and go to work secure in the feeling that this is just another day.. the only difference will be the patients and occasional ‘new' residents. We set your goals and ambitions on this stability. We make our plans for patient care, education, research and publishing based on this secure assumption that ‘all' will be there.

It was not always like this before. Not at least in radiology. Like the matinee movies, it was a case of "daily change". We never had more than two or three faculty in the department running the show with residents. Sure, the modalities were less, but the patient load was the same. Someone or the other ended up doing more work.. And then, after a few months, when things seem to have be somewhat settling down, there would be a change. Some one chose to leave KEM for greener pastures in a private practice or a private hospital. The wheels of this cycle never seemed to stop....or so it seemed.

“Sir, will you please fall in line”, the admonition that I was handed out at my son’s school 12 years ago as I stood in line  (or not so much in line) to pay the Kindergarten fee still lingers fresh in my memory. And, just a few days ago was the passing out day for the batch of 2007 where the Vice- Captain of the school with immaculate deliverance said adieu to the school on behalf of her batch-mates, one of whom was my son.

These 12 years, have on several occasions, brought me to the school for reasons pleasant or unpleasant and have, on many occasions, helped me relive my own childhood and schooldays.

It's a mad world out there.

There are cat fights and dog fights.

The only difference is that animal fights do not involve ego. And hence they can settle without much backlash.

Not so easy with humans; not- especially if you a 25 something resident in KEM!!

Resident warfare is nothing new - not to us in Radiology anyway, where we have had to interact with virtually every other department in the hospital.

For a moment I was lost. As far as I can recall, in 25 years of working with residents, no one had asked this question before. ..

"Sir, can I make a copy of our teaching files on CDs and take them with me?

It is creditable that not one but two residents asked me this question on successive days. Creditable because if they just made the copies and gone away, no one – not in the least I – would have known and everybody could have lived happily ever after. Couple day later, in an entirely different context, another resident told me "Sir, people will use this material to show them as their own…"

"Sunday" - that was the startled exclamation from the resident.

"You really mean you want me to do these routine procedures on a Sunday" is what seemed to go through the resident's mind. 

Maybe 10 years back I would have said "Why not? What's wrong with a Sunday"; but, time had taught never to take residents for granted; so I gladly agreed to a rescheduled  appointment on a weekday!.

I was sitting at the PC when the resident very politely asked me "May I leave now Sir?" Instinctively, I looked up at the wall clock - it was 4.20 PM - time, in fact, well beyond time (4 PM) - for radiology residents to scoot from the No. 10 reporting room.

It is interesting how the No. 10 reporting is always covered by residents from 8AM-4PM. You will rarely not find at least one resident there; even if it means someone else from somewhere else to cover for lunch times and "break-times". Some would like to think that this is simply because, the residents are scared of me as I spend most of my time in this computer den; but, I would rather think that they are being considerate to their Chief - poor old man; why let patients come in the way of his work.