Describe your best day at work?
Very recently, we successfully managed a baby born at 25 weeks and weighing only 710 grams at birth. She required an Amplatzer Piccolo Occluder for her PDA. To the best of our knowledge, she is the smallest baby in Eastern India to have successfully undergone this procedure and the second smallest in the country. Being able to manage such a tiny baby, and to do so in a non-metro city, gave us the best day we have had so far. Nothing else comes close!
What have you done to improve your wellness at work?
As paediatricians, what else can make our days better than seeing some of the sickest babies posing the biggest challenges finally making their way home!
On an individual or team level, in our institution, we experience wellness most when our babies are feeling well. Despite the pressures at work, we always feel at our best when we are able to successfully treat our children. Our entire team of doctors, nurses and other allied healthcare professionals seeks wellness in the work we do, and we have experienced that treating our children has had a positive impact on our lives that wouldn’t have happened in any other way. On an individual level, happiness can have different meanings; as a team, we can all be happy only in this way.
What would you like the child health sector to look like in 30 years?
Children’s health will probably face the biggest challenges in the future. To me, the child health sector in the next 30 years will need far greater involvement from policymakers. Paediatricians, nurses and other medical professionals will find it difficult to tackle these challenges without the involvement of wider society. Addressing the problems that contribute to physical and mental illnesses in children will require at least as much attention and investment as treating them, if not more.
What is one thing you will do, or advise new child health professionals, to get there?
Child health professionals across the world should start contemplating the future and the challenges it is likely to pose for our children.
This requires greater engagement than merely treating diseases. We need to make a collective effort to address issues such as poverty, inequality, malnutrition, wars and conflicts, giving them the same level of attention as cutting-edge medical research. Paediatricians should have representation in think tanks and governing bodies. They could also establish committees and invite lawmakers to be part of them.
Earlier this year, we asked members of the paediatric community to share their stories as part of our 30th anniversary, celebrating millions of moments that mattered. Stories like these remind us of the impact you can have on children and families when you choose paediatrics.
If you'd like to share your story, we'd love to hear from you!