40. TOM的印度醫院實習

Tom是我在Varanasi睡在我上鋪的室友，他是英國劍橋大學醫學院的學生，跟朋友一起來印度旅行順便在Varanasi的一家醫院實習，中規中矩的他不像其他西方室友會在房間內打赤膊，每次看到他總是躺在上鋪用著筆電看著醫學類文章，與印度攝影師喝完酒後，因為我們都被傳染了咳嗽跟喉嚨痛，所以我的症狀加劇，問了Tom有沒有消炎藥或藥效較強的藥，隔天他便幫我從醫院帶了些消炎藥跟其他強效感冒藥，兩天後我就痊癒了。

他在我的筆記本上寫到

Every guidebook likes to proclaim that visitors to some particular destination will be struck by sounds, sights and smells of  a city. India is truly an assault on the scenes, & no guidebook cliches can prepare you for the first moment of immersion into it's new and bewildering culture. I came to India as part of my medical degree, to work in the hospitals here. The contrast is shocking. Resources are scare, particularly in the government hospitals & patients are often unable to access what we in the UK world consider relatively basic investigations and treatments. It has been fascinating to see how doctors have adapted to there settings, often seeing hundreds of patients a day in croweded outpatient clinics.

The doctors I have met are much like the vast majority of Indians I have come across hard working and eager to cook after us as guests  in their country. The patients themselves deal with ailments most people think of us diseases of the past -Leprosy, Tuberculosis and other such diseases we rarely encounter in the West. It is sickening to think that millions die here from things as preventable as childhood diarrhoea. These problems are as vast and complex as India itself-I can under no illusion that I have ever scratched the surface. Nevertheless, I feel that this trip to Indian has given me some perspective & broadened my view of healthcare. That, and the chance to eat huge quantities of delicious curry. Definitely coming back again some day.

Tom  UK