Of every country I've been to, India was one of the most eventful trips, from having locals queue to take pictures with us, to having an argument with a rickshaw driver, to getting hit in the face by a monkey, it was unforgettable. In second year, many industries expect students to do an internship over the summer holidays. I, on the other hand, was excited to spend my summer travelling, however I decided to incorporate a short internship during my travels to help me decide whether I'd enjoy working in a hospital and studying medicine after graduating.
I got a friend onboard and booked a medical internship in Delhi, India for June 2018. After losing £300+ over a mistyped name on the flight information and getting dropped off at the wrong terminal, we were ready for our adventure. We arrived in Delhi at night and were driven to a house in a wealthy area, which we were going to stay in alongside other interns for the two weeks. The house had everything we needed and more, including Wi-Fi, AC, and an intruder mouse. The other interns were lovely and diverse, with people from Australia, Ireland, the US and Colombia, however only a handful of us were doing the medical internship. We were interning in one of the best private hospitals in Delhi, however the experience was very different to how I'd envisaged it.
Many of the doctors at the hospital were confused as to what we were doing there and so didn't have much patience for us. I opted to intern in A&E for one week and the general surgery ward on the second week. A&E was very underwhelming at points, with many patients having stomach issues, and occasionally sepsis. One prominent memory was of a patient in the red room undergoing CPR, however it transpired that some of the hospital's equipment was down that day and one of the nurses was apparently carrying out CPR incorrectly, so the patient unfortunately passed away.
In the first week we also had to make our own trip to a hospital as one of the interns had a UTI but feared it had become septic, whilst another had hurt their ankle. At the hospital we were interning at, the nurses would find a vein in the back of the hand when drawing blood from patients and push down on the needle, which would lead to many of the patients crying in pain. After seeing this (in one of the best hospitals in India), we were nervous about going, especially as one of the interns didn't have international medical insurance. Nonetheless, we found a nearby international hospital which ended up being much cheaper than expected and they inserted the needle in the arm as we were accustomed to, so it all worked out well in the end.
I found the operations ward much more interesting as the only part of medicine I was really interested in was neurosurgery. I saw multiple hysterectomies and laparoscopic surgeries, and even managed to see a surgical abortion. The surgeons were a lot more engaging with us and made sure we always had a good view, which was greatly appreciated, and I was impressed by how many of the surgeons were women. The only oddities were that the nurses would occasionally touch blood-covered cotton pads without gloves and some surfaces contained blood. Also, in the hospital canteen the guys working there didn't want to serve us a meal as 'it would be too spicy' for us, despite having served it to another intern who although American, had Indian parents, and therefore passed for a local (we had the meal in the end and it wasn't too spicy at all).
Although the internship was interesting and made me realise that medicine wasn't for me, what made this trip memorable was the sightseeing. Despite the 42°C heat, everyday after finishing up in the hospital we'd try to visit some of Delhi's landmarks. Delhi is a very lively city, and the sights are gorgeous, including the Lotus Temple, the Red Fort, and Humayun's Tomb. At a few of the sights, we'd end up with adults queuing to take pictures with us as we were the only white people they had seen, which was novel. We'd always get rickshaws to the sights, and fortunately one of the medical interns spoke Hindi, so she'd make sure that we were paying reasonable prices. On one instance in her absence, we were trying to get back to our house but all of the rickshaw drivers were charging us double of what it cost to get there, so we decided to walk. Then, one driver offered us a reasonable price (still more than what we'd paid beforehand) and we accepted, only for him to argue with us on arrival that we'd agreed to pay much more. This was despite us confirming the price before getting in the rickshaw and several times en route. Fortunately, one of the internship company's employees was nearby and helped us out.
One weekend, we decided to visit the 'Golden Triangle', which included the Taj Mahal and Jaipur. As we drove along the road, elephants and cows with humps would walk alongside us and we visited a monkey temple, where one of the interns was slapped in the face by a monkey. As we were leaving one of the sights, the wind suddenly picked up, the sky turned yellow, and many pigeons started flying overhead, but we didn't think much of it. We had a fairly long drive on the motorway until the next sight and as we were driving there was suddenly a sandstorm so we couldn't see anything at all, yet the driver didn't pull over. At one point, we were in the fast lane and a lorry started merging into our lane without having seen us and we were inches from being crushed, when the lorry driver finally spotted us at the last minute.
We visited Amber Fort, where there was the option of riding an elephant for 20 minutes which I was very unsure about, however after some research we decided to go for it. The ride was alright but in hindsight, I wouldn't recommend it as it's unclear how much the policies ensuring the wellbeing of the elephants are enforced and I don't think it's worth supporting the use of animals for human entertainment. I also had my palm read on this trip, and despite asking not to be told any negatives I was told that I would have stomach and knee issues when I was older, but that buying a sapphire that the palm reader sold would conveniently solve these issues for me.
Overall, the trip was very eventful and I look back on the trip fondly. The other interns made the trip very enjoyable, and the bars we visited were very lively (and drinks were very cheap!). Before visiting, I'd heard many people warn of a culture shock and overcrowding, and although there was a lot of homelessness the culture wasn't overwhelming at all (although having said that, I have travelled a lot and live in London). The locals would often stare at us but it was mostly out of curiosity and most people we spoke to were lovely. India is very lively and colourful and the food is delicious, and I'm excited to visit again.
Comments