After dinner conversation !

After a recent dinner get-together with some students, the conversations turned to another direction with one of the students asking Anna and myself questions about ourselves- 'Why did you choose Paediatrics as your specialty'!  

I had chosen and got myself trained in public health after my graduation. For two years before I graduated, I was fascinated by a teacher who brought new understanding about community health, She motivated us about the need to enlarge the base of primary health coverage in India. It was 1970 and the tertiary care culture had not overtaken even the metropolitan cities. Those who can afford went abroad at that time for specialised treatment. Others had to be content with what some well run medical college hospitals could offer. 

I began my working life with a stint at the Medical college at Sevagram, working under Dr. Sushila Nayyar, the head of the community medicine department. Following an outbreak of Measles and several children dying, she mentioned to me that community physicians need specialisation in Paediatrics or Maternal and child Health. This made sense and I moved on for training in Paediatrics and later in Maternal and Child Health at the end of which Anna and I moved to the Christian Medical College, Vellore, where I worked mostly in Neonatology service.

It was during that time I became aware of the outcome of the perinatal complications of infants leading to cerebral palsy, convulsions, microcephaly, etc. Once a mother asked me, 'why did you treat my son's jaundice at birth, if you knew that he would have microcephaly and spasticity later'! It was that question along with some experiences which initiated me on my journey into developmental paediatrics. During the last thirty four years, I have been on a journey to make a difference in the lives of children who were developmentally disadvantaged. A fulfilling and learning journey of great significance!

The after dinner conversation turned out to be a refreshing recollection time for me. Every time I was unsettled to move on, life became an adventure. I am glad for new frontiers opened in my life, by others asking me disturbing questions.

Choose movement in life and not settlement- that is how we can turn  life into an opportunity!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)