Tag Archives: Medical Missions

Reflections on Medical Missions

14 Sep

With the background of my short testimony in the previous posts (1,2), let me reflect on some common queries regarding Medical Missions in the minds of Christian medical students and on ways forward:

 

  1. Who is a missionary? I found this definition from Wikipedia (3) quite comprehensive, “A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word “mission” originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin missionem (nom. missio), meaning “act of sending” or mittere, meaning “to send”. The word was used in light of its biblical usage; in the Latin translation of the Bible, Christ uses the word when sending the disciples to preach in his name. The term is most commonly used for Christian missions, but can be used for any creed or ideology.” A Christian medical missionary would therefore be someone sent to provide health care on behalf of a Christian church or group and Christian medical missions would be the work done collectively by a group of such people.
  2. What are some of the characteristics of medical missionary work? I think that medical missionaries (like all other missionaries) need to be sent out to areas where they are relatively out of their comfort zone (vulnerable) and to help people who are poor and marginalized. They must excel in their professional work as well as serve in the Spirit of Christ, so that others may see Christ in and through their work. This would enable other Christian services to be offered through the activities of the mission compound.
  3. Does Medical Mission work have to be only in remote rural areas? Many of the present locations of mission hospitals in India were once rural – towns have developed around the mission compounds! However, after Indian independence, there has been a significant movement of people to urban areas and many live in slums. These people are also poor and marginalized – they do not have access to high quality medical care at affordable cost and this is an opportunity for mission hospitals in urban areas. Mission hospitals have great potential as they are among the few entities which focus on people whom nobody else is interested in.
  4. Are there opportunities for pioneering new Medical Mission work in India? Yes, Arunachal Pradesh is at present the only state in India without a Christian mission hospital. (Tripura too did not have one until we started a hospital there in 2005). There are large tracts of land in forgotten corners of our country where new hospitals are needed and can be started. However, due to local land and entry laws, it is not easy for outsiders.States such as Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland require an Inner Line Permit – similar to a visa – for non-locals to enter and several states have restrictions on non-locals purchasing land). Similarly, great opportunities for transformation exist in other needy parts of the world where few want to go.
  5. Can Medical Mission work be done in hostile areas? When Makunda started the work in Tripura, Dhalai district was the most affected by militancy with murder and abduction being common and all public transportation possible only through armed convoys. However, the work at the hospital was never affected as it was seen as a humanitarian service to the poor. I had the privilege to visit Africa last year – mission hospitals are the only long-term health facilities that work well in conflict areas because of the commitment of staff. Other NGOs (like Red Cross and MSF) offer short-term medical support services. Warring groups usually do not target missionary services, recognising their humanitarian value and universal appeal.
  6. Is Medical Mission work a sacrifice? We are called to be ‘living sacrifices’ – meaning that we offer ourselves to a life of obedience to God. Medical mission work (especially in remote rural areas) is front-line work and not easy. However, in the light of the words of the Bible, I would say that the trials and difficulties are ‘temporary and trivial inconveniences’! We should not dwell on sacrifice as it makes people into ineffective self-styled martyrs! There is no sacrifice too great for a missionary – when we feel that we have been brought to life from death by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we should be ready to die for Him. When we look at missionary history, many missionaries (often unheard and unsung) gave their lives so that the church may be built in remote areas all over the world – truly the present Christian church in these areas has been built on their sweat and blood. In comparison, the problems we face today in India are indeed trivial.
  7. Can Medical Mission work be professionally challenging? I have heard many people say that mission hospitals (especially remote rural ones) treat only diarrhea and ear discharge! When I completed my M.Ch in Pediatric Surgery at CMC Vellore, there were people who even asked why I wasted a M.Ch seat which could have been given to someone who was more likely to use it! I would like to say that I have seen and operated on some of the most professionally challenging conditions at Makunda. Since CT scans, nuclear scans and the services of other experts are often unavailable in these locations, missionary doctors need to innovate to be able to treat patients cost effectively with what is available.. I have operated on a teratoma in the right middle lobe of the lung (middle lobectomy with composite resection of two overlying ribs), ectopia cordis (unfortunately, this patient died), 35 kg ovarian tumor, retrograde jejunogastric intussusception, intra-abdominal cocoon (several cases) and so on. There have also been challenging medical as well as other specialties’ cases. All these years, I was the only full-time pediatric surgeon in the states of Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur and southern Assam – so there are certainly a huge variety of patients who need treatment (and who cannot go elsewhere because they are poor), it is only logical to conclude that professionally, medical missionaries are in for exciting opportunities.
  8. Is it not difficult to be in a ‘vulnerable’ situation? Humanly speaking, it is. However, I would say that from a spiritual perspective, this is the greatest factor in favor of Medical Missions. Vulnerability is a blessing in disguise – how else will we see God at work? God specialises in helping us as we face circumstances beyond our control. Miracles do not happen when we are in control of situations. When all else fails and we totally depend on God, we see Him at work. It is an exciting experience to see God at work and see Him build up His kingdom and be partners in this great ministry.
  9. Is Medical Mission work drudgery with few opportunities to relax? When I was in school, I was interested in tennis, rifle shooting and rowing. In college, I cultivated an interest in electronics. However, many of these activities were not possible at Makunda. I discovered that nature observation and photography are excellent for relaxation. My observations in and around Makunda have been posted and published in many sites. (4,5) If someone is looking for the nearest mall to relax in, he may be disappointed but there are other (and maybe greater) opportunities to compensate.
  10. Can work focused on the poor be self-sustaining? When we re-started Makunda, we were told that it was impossible to work primarily for the poor on a self-sustaining basis and that all successful mission hospitals subsidise treatment of the poor by treating the rich at higher rates. However, we decided to be a hospital primarily for the poor with no special facilities for the rich as a part of our ‘pro-poor’ branding strategy. All patients wait in the same queues irrespective of their social class or wealth and the same general wards are used to admit them. Charges are low and charity is liberal – the hospital is flooded with patients and high capacity utilisation leads to high efficiency and lowered costs. God has blessed the work and we have been able to invest in new equipment and buildings, start a new school, the branch in Tripura and nursing school without major grants (the external funding received each year was less than 1 percent of income for many years). When we treat the poor who cannot afford to pay, God pays their bills – often in ways that money cannot buy – by giving us satisfaction, contentment and wealth in heaven.
  11. Why is there a high attrition rate in mission hospitals? Work in mission hospitals is not easy and not for every one. There is peer-pressure from families and friends. People look for comforts and sometimes are unable to adjust to life in mission hospitals. Many are short-term and do not want to stay on to solve local problems. There is a high attrition rate in Medical Mission work all over the world – maybe <10 per cent of new staff stay on long-term. However, most staff leave after tasting God at work and often say that the best years of their lives were at the mission hospital!
  12. Are many mission hospitals today ‘beyond redemption’? Sadly, many mission hospitals are ‘sick’. This is due to inability to adapt to rapid changes, poor governance and the absence of committed long-term staff at a leadership level. Being at the cutting edge of mission work, I am sure there would also be an element of spiritual warfare. However, no hospital is beyond redemption. Major changes may need to be done to resolve problems but all of them can be revived. If a completely shut hospital (like Makunda) with severe local problems can be revived to become a thriving community, there is hope for all the other sick ones too! God is able to do great things. He just needs a few volunteers willing to submit to Him.

 

What should be done to revive and revitalize Medical Missions?

 

  1. I feel that Medical Mission hospitals require a transition to effective and efficient governance mechanisms, without losing the vision of the founding fathers. They may need repositioning due to changing contexts – laws have changed and the world has changed. For this to happen, highly committed people should be willing to stay till they see change. It is a call to persevere – changes may take years to happen. Objective stock-taking exercises, strategic planning and an excellent system of accountability, transparency and integrity based ‘checks and balances’ is essential.
  2. The church should ‘own’ and support medical mission work. When I was young, I never went to church, thinking it was a waste of time! Parents and people at church disapproved. Later, when I started going to church, everyone was happy. However, when I felt God’s call to remote rural missions, many felt I was going too far, becoming extremist! If every church encouraged medical members of its congregation to give a year or two of their lives to missions, there would be more than enough people to run the hospitals.
  3. Many young doctors and specialists going to mission hospitals today do not have the training and experience to manage administrative (legal, financial and other) work. They need to have some exposure, as they are often required to take leadership roles. Some years ago, Makunda offered a mission-training programme of 2 years duration where doctors who are keen to work in long-term missions could work as apprentices and finally learn to manage a small hospital (our branch at Tripura) on their own.
  4. There is a lot of Christian work in medical colleges in India – EMFI and UESI as well as other groups. However, such work should lead to changed lives. We need people to experience the life-changing power of the Gospel and then take decisions that will take them to the best plans God has for them. Important attitudes need to be cultivated too. (6)
  5. Excellence in studies is important. Obscure facts learnt in medical college serve to be life-saving information(7). Students interested in a career in medical missions should ensure that every day in college is well-spent and no opportunity to study is lost.
  6. The choice of who one marries has a very strong effect on which medical missionary stays on in Medical Missions and which one does not. (8)
  7. When young Christian medical professionals talk of working abroad, the conversation is almost always about the developed world – the western nations, Australia and even the wealthy ones in the Middle East. Why don’t we look at the ones that need help instead – Myanmar, African and South American nations, small island nations – for those with a greater adventurous spirit, these opportunities beckon!
  8. There is a ’rut’ placed in time at the end of MBBS or other medical professional qualification. If nothing is done at this point, all graduates tend to follow the tracks left by their peers – corporate work, government work or private practice. So, for those considering Medical Missions, important steps need to be taken much prior to graduation – sensitizing parents, and exploring varied options.

 

I would like to invite every committed Christian medical professional to consider a life-long career in mission hospitals, or at least a few years of their life. We spend a lot of effort in investing our money so that it gains the greatest value over time. I think Medical Mission work gives a Christian medical professional the greatest value over time – an exciting and fulfilling life in this world and a great reward in heaven.

 

This post is updated and adapted from the chapter, “A privileged call to Medical Missions” published in the book, “Wings of Dawn” – used here with permission from the publisher, Evangelical Medical Fellowship of India. The book, which also contains chapters by several other authors is available in hard copy and Kindle versions on Amazon.

 

Bibliography:

 

  1. https://the-sparrowsnest.net/2017/09/13/obeying-a-call-to-medical-missions-a-testimony/
  2. https://the-sparrowsnest.net/2016/02/19/short-video-of-our-work-made-by-emmanuel-hospital-association/
  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionary
  4. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ivijayanand/
  5. http://www.inaturalist.org/people/8853
  6. https://the-sparrowsnest.net/2014/04/28/attitudes-to-cultivate-for-the-aspiring-medical-missionary/
  7. https://the-sparrowsnest.net/2012/04/15/excellence-in-studies-for-an-aspiring-medical-missionary/
  8. https://the-sparrowsnest.net/2012/05/22/wisely-choosing-a-life-partner-for-an-aspiring-medical-missionary/

 

 

 

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Obeying a call to Medical Missions – a Testimony

13 Sep

In 1982, as a second year under-graduate medical student at the Kilpauk Medical College in Madras (1), I made a lifelong commitment to Jesus Christ. I started a Bible Study group in college and we discussed how to live the Christian life and make decisions that were approved in God’s sight. We heard many messages on the topic, “Finding God’s Will” but many of us were not able to get a clear convincing personal answer to this burning question. My query was answered one day when I was reading Jeremiah 29:11-13 (2) – I felt God telling me that I was not able to find His will for my life because I was not seeking with all my heart and that He was waiting to answer as soon as I realised that He had the best possible plans for my life. I also realised that I did not want to hand over my life totally into His hands; I wanted to retain control and this attitude was preventing me from seeing His plans for me. I felt God speaking to me and made a vow that I would obey Him and go where He wanted me to go and do what He wanted me to do with all my time, talents and treasure. It soon became clear to me that I should go where few others wanted to go, so that I could make a difference to people who had no access to good health care. Since the southern four states of India were well provisioned with healthcare, I had to go far away from home.

After my internship, I was not confident to run a remote hospital by myself and joined the Christian Fellowship Hospital (3) at Oddanchatram in 1987 and spent 3 wonderful years there, learning to become a more confident doctor. I also spent the 3 years (every Thursday) exploring villages in the hills of Pachalur (30 kilometers from Oddanchatram), doing medical work with some local missionaries and seeing God answering the simple prayers of poor people powerfully. For the next few years, I was involved in conducting the annual Medical Missionary Meets for medical college students of Tamil Nadu at Pachalur organised by the CF Hospital – I visited medical college fellowships in Tamil Nadu, wrote numerous letters to a large number of students and learnt many things about working with medical students.

I was married to Ann in 1991, during my Postgraduate Residency days in General Surgery at the Madurai Medical College (4) – we met over our common interest in medical missionary work. I had met Dr. Vinod Shah, a paediatric surgeon, then working with the Indian Evangelical Mission in Gujarat, at the Medical Missionary Meet at Pachalur in 1987. In 1989, I spent two months with him at the Chinchpada Christian Hospital in Dhule District of Maharashtra (he had just joined the hospital as its Medical Superintendent) – I spent time thinking about and discussing where God wanted me to go during my time at Chinchpada and shared with Dr. Vinod Shah a list of key points that I felt God was asking me to look for. Some of these key points were a remote rural area where no hospitals/doctors were present, a thickly populated area with great healthcare need, a large campus which could be developed over the years and the scope for working with medical students of the area. In 1992, when I was completing my MS in General Surgery, Dr. Vinod Shah, who had become the Medical Secretary of the Emmanuel Hospital Association (5), asked us to visit a mission hospital in Assam (bordering Mizoram and Tripura) that was closed for the past 10 years, called the Makunda Christian Leprosy and General Hospital (6,7) – he wrote me a letter saying that he was inspired to recommend this place to us as most of my ‘key points’ were fulfilled at this hospital. We visited the campus for a week in October 1992 and found a desolate place with broken buildings, no patients, no income and a violent group of people from the old church and staff of the campus who planned to steal the land and assets of the hospital for themselves. They told us that if we wanted to work peacefully in the hospital, we should join them. If not we would have to fight them and that they would make life difficult for us! We prayed for wisdom and guidance. God opened our eyes to the magnificent campus (at that time, 1000 acres of forested land), to the great need (we heard stories of many mothers who died as they were unable to cross flooded areas during childbirth to travel to faraway hospitals) and to the potential of working with young people in a new area where God was leading us, north-east India. We felt God assuring us that we were under His protection, He would take us by His hands and be the source of all the wisdom, strength and encouragement that we needed as we stepped into this new responsibility that He was giving us.

In 1993, we joined this hospital as its first doctors (after its years of closure) and have continued to serve there since then. Between 1997 and 1999, I did my M.Ch in Paediatric Surgery at the Christian Medical College (8) (CMC) at Vellore and between 1999 to 2000, I worked as a Lecturer in General Surgery in the same college (Ann, who had waited 7 years to do her Postgraduate studies, did her MD in Anaesthesia at CMC during the same 3-year period). During our stay at CMC, we were equipped with new skills and knowledge to expand the services we offered at Makunda – we started the only paediatric surgical centre for the states of Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and the southern half of Assam. When we initially joined the hospital, we were told by the leaders of Emmanuel Hospital Association in New Delhi (which took over the Board function of Makunda from the previous Baptist Mid-Missions Trustees India) that we had to make a long-term commitment to Makunda, as they would not be able to find anyone else willing to work there if we quit. We were also told that they were taking the risky decision to accept Makunda as a Member of the Association based on our willingness to stay long-term. When I asked, what they meant by ‘long-term’, we were told, ‘preferably retire from there’! We agreed and made a 30-year commitment to the hospital and started work on a 30-year strategic plan to rebuild the hospital. We thank God that He has enabled us to stay on till the present – we are in Year 25.

There were many battles to fight – we had no experience in administration, law or finance, there was no one on the campus who had the same vision, we did not know the language, there was no running water or electricity, no patients or money, we had to confront the so called ‘trade union’ members and a group of old leprosy patients who had joined them on a daily basis and the nearest phone was 50 kilometers away on a bad road! Makunda was considered a God-forsaken place – in those early days, if someone was posted to Makunda, the first question would be, “what wrong have I done?”!

In the past 24 years, God has blessed the work at Makunda. In 2016-17 (which was not a good year – due to three months of floods), the hospital saw 84,557 outpatients, admitted 11,017 inpatients, delivered 4886 mothers and performed 2194 major operations. A survey of northeast India showed that many remote rural areas (such as Arunachal Pradesh which is presently the only state in India without a Christian mission hospital) had low population density and could not support a hospital like Makunda. It was felt that nurse-missionaries could run healthcare services in such areas and a nursing school was started in 2006 – 25 students join every year and over 200 have passed out so far. A survey of local villages showed that poor tribal children had no scope of acquiring a good education and career, improving the social and economic status of their villages unless they had access to affordable English medium education as they were not comfortable and quickly dropped out of the locally available Bengali language schools (many tribal languages in northeast India use the English script – a testimony to the linguistic work done by Christian missionaries in the past). An English medium school, the Makunda Christian High School, was therefore started in 2004 and today there are nearly 1000 students studying up to class XII (Arts and Science) with 220 children in two hostels. It was also decided to start a new hospital in another state of northeast India to expand Makunda’s horizons, to serve as a training/experience centre for young staff interested in missions and learn how to start and run a new hospital – with a view of starting many more! A branch hospital was therefore started in the neighbouring state of Tripura, at Kamalacherra in the Dhalai District, in 2005 and it is providing service in one of the most needy parts of the state – it is the only Christian hospital in the state and at that time heavily infested with militants. An agriculture and fishery department looks after the large campus and in 2015, the “Makunda Nature Club” was started to document biodiversity, conserve wildlife and conduct research. A community college was started the same year. The hospital is focused on the poor and there are no facilities for the rich such as private rooms or private consultations. Yet, it has adequate income to meet the running expenses, able to offer charity liberally to the poor and still have enough for critical capital expenditure – a self-sustainable model focused on the poor with only 1-2% of income derived from external sources. Large numbers of poor people have found healing on the campus. During the day, more than 1000 staff and students work and learn on the campus. Spiritual work for patients, students, staff and for others outside the campus (villagers and college students) is carried out throughout the year. The medical work has therefore enabled the entire campus to thrive and this has been the story of successful Medical Missions all over the world. The hospital has partnered with the Government too – it has one of the best-run Private Public Partnerships with National Health Mission, Assam for maternal and child health care. It also provides a 6 month residency to doctors from Netherlands doing the MD (Global Health and Tropical Medicine) course from the Royal Dutch Tropical Institute, Amsterdam – enabling highly committed medical doctors from the Netherlands to acquire the skills and experience required to serve in even more needy parts of the world such as South Sudan and Ethiopia. I must acknowledge the selfless and joyful work put in by the staff in all departments who have gladly ‘walked the second mile’ – they have been the greatest strength of the hospital and all these developments would not have been possible without them. It has been a privilege to work with so many highly committed staff whom God has brought from many places.

Ann and me have faced many difficult situations (violence, health issues – I had a heart attack in 2008, court cases against us, to name a few) but count it all joy to be a part of God’s great work in this corner of the world. (9,10) We look forward to what God has in store for us in the years to come and our ambition is that we will continue to trust and obey Him and when our days in this world are over, be welcomed back to heaven as good and faithful servants who accomplished the work given to them.

This post is updated and adapted from the chapter, “A privileged call to Medical Missions” published in the book, “Wings of Dawn” – used here with permission from the publisher, Evangelical Medical Fellowship of India. The book, which also contains chapters by several other authors is available in hard copy and Kindle versions on Amazon.

Bibliography:

1. http://www.kmc.ac.in/kmc/
2. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+29%3A11-13&version=NIV
3. https://www.cfhospital.org
4. http://www.mdmc.ac.in/mdmc/
5. https://www.eha-health.org
6. http://www.makunda.in
7. https://www.facebook.com/groups/380594120460/
8. http://cmcvelloremissions.org/
9. https://the-sparrowsnest.net/2011/11/01/an-encounter-with-a-myocardial-infarction/
10. https://the-sparrowsnest.net/2016/02/19/short-video-of-our-work-made-by-emmanuel-hospital-association/

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Short video of our work made by Emmanuel Hospital Association

19 Feb

Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA) has made short videos on the life of some of its doctors to challenge mission-minded people to step out in faith and see God work through them. I would like to thank Dr. Ashok Chacko who took the initiative to make this short video in 2014 based on work in the different departments at Makunda and an interview with me and Ann. God continues to do a great work at Makunda and the credit goes to Him and to the large number of highly committed staff who have worked hard inspite of many difficulties over the years.

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Wisely choosing a life partner for an aspiring medical missionary

22 May


         I have had the privilege of interacting with Christian medical students and medical missionaries for about 25 years. The process of looking for and finding a worthy partner in medical missionary service is an important one as it can enrich or mar the work done together. These are some thoughts (my personal thoughts and observations) for the aspiring medical missionary who is still a student.

 

  1. The choice of whom to marry should ideally wait till God has given other important directions first – where to go and what to do. Until this data is available, it is not advisable to make this choice (witness the problems that William Carey faced with his first marriage). When a logical decision is made taking into account God’s directions, the choice will be ideal (like the choice made by Jim and Elisabeth Elliott). Since these directions are still not clear during college life, this is not the time to fall in love.
  2. When Christian medical students fall in love (or in other words ‘get infatuated’), they will not ask God “Is this your choice for me?”. Instead they usually declare “Thank you God for bringing this person into my life!” This cleverly shifts the blame on God. They will then look for suitable Bible verses and songs to justify and support their decision (Romans 8:31 is a popular choice of verse and “Is anything too hard for the Lord” a good song for this purpose). They will seek approval among others who are doing the same thing or from someone who they know will approve of what they are doing.
  3. If the relationship breaks down, they suffer a spiritual breakdown which is similar to having a hemiplegia. They think “God got me into this relationship (remember the first prayer in the previous point). If I can’t trust God in this matter, does He really exist? Have I been living in a make-believe world? ) They will then need rehabilitation before they can get back to normal life. This often takes time, broken relationships and leaves behind scars.
  4. The problem with infatuation is that there is no logic in it – decisions are made on emotions alone. It has been shown that the parts of the brain that are involved in logical thinking are not used when someone is infatuated. Gross compromises (like saying that a materialistic person would become a missionary after marriage) are made to ensure that the other person is not lost. Falling in love is good after the right choice has been made (especially after marriage when small non-critical differences between the partners need to be reconciled).
  5. If the relationship ends in marriage and it had not been made on well-planned lines and taking into account God’s prior guidance, the scales fall off their eyes and they see that they will have to live with major compromises if they are to remain married. It is often the end of any missionary plans.
  6. When this happens in a Bible study group (especially when the leaders are involved), usually the others comment about it but do nothing to help. They say ‘it is their life – who are we to interfere?”  We must remember that these people are unable to think and to them our silence approves their relationship. When the choice is obviously wrong, they have a feeling that something is not right. They just need someone to point this out. After this, if they still go ahead with their relationship, then it is their choice. How can we point it out without offence? When I was involved with student groups in Tamilnadu, we printed out a checklist on Infatuation. This was called “Infatuation or Love”. It has subsequently been edited. If you find that someone who has declared an interest in missions is making the wrong choice, you can give them a copy of this checklist. If they were not infatuated, they will say  “that was well written” or something similar. If they are infatuated, they will often say, “I lost the copy” – this is because, it has disturbed them. This is the time to give a second copy! We found this technique very effective in helping people to think. It is also a good idea to have a discussion on the topic with some senior missionaries or local Christians.
  7. As written in the checklist, infatuation has its costs. Other relationships suffer, studies and the relationship with God also suffers. I call it a ‘time-occupying lesion’! So, if you are in a relationship or contemplating one, this checklist may be something that you could read too.
  8. An important question to answer “Is marriage for me?”. Being single is neither a disgrace nor a liability. Many great missionaries were single. If you look at the history of medical missions in India, a lot of the pioneering work was done by single women. Some remained single because of choice and others because they could not find suitable husbands or wives. It is not easy to be single. However, for the person who has gone ahead with missionary work and has remained single, God will be their partner. This may be the portion that God has for some of his missionaries.
  9. As we move ahead, we need to add points to the checklist of things to look for in a prospective partner. If we have too many requirements, it becomes difficult (or impossible) to find a suitable person. We should make a list of imperative requirements and superficial ones. Imperative ones are commitment to God and to missions. Superficial ones are tribe/caste, wealth, physical appearance etc. If we want to marry only a doctor who is pretty, belongs to the same tribe and state and is wealthy as well as committed to God and missions, we may be looking for too much. Just like doing a Medline search, we can increase the numbers by pruning our list of requirements. In communities where parental involvement is essential, it may be necessary to keep talking to them over a period of time about the list so that parents also slowly start to accept and then eventually look for the same requirements.
  10. When the correct match has been made, the union does not distract from God’s work. It becomes a situation where 1 + 1 > 2. This happens because personality, abilities, knowledge, skills and aptitudes differ between the partners  – each partner brings to the marriage a different set of these but committed to the same vision. This will be a God approved match. There will be unity, stability and a feeling of peace in such a relationship. When things go wrong in the mission field, the husband and wife can encourage one another and when they go well, they can rejoice together.

 

 

Only God knows us and the person we are thinking about comprehensively (Psalm 139). He knows us fully – not only what we are now but also what we will be in the future. Let us leave this matter into His hands, seek His guidance and listen to His still small voice. We will know we are on the right direction when we have the peace that passeth understanding. There is no hurry – He is in control. He is the source of all wisdom, strength and encouragement. May God be with you.

 

Dr.Vijay Anand Ismavel MS, M Ch

Medical Superintendent – Makunda Christian Hospital, Assam

Regional Director – Emmanuel Hospital Association, New Delhi

 

P.S. – you can contact me on ivijayanand@yahoo.in or on Facebook “Vijay Anand Ismavel’. Our hospital is also on Facebook “Makunda Christian Hospital”. Please also look at our websites www.makunda.in and www.eha-health.org

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Excellence in studies for an aspiring medical missionary

15 Apr

I have written this for my student friends – simple strategies that helped me to be a good student:

I am sure we all want to study well. Somehow it does not seem to happen. We open one of the reference books (Gray’s Anatomy or Harrison’s Medicine) and read a page. When we have gone through the first 3 paragraphs, our eyelids start to droop and we find ourselves unable to proceed (an effective cure for insomniacs !). The next day we start off at the same spot, maybe progress onto the next page and then find the same thing happening all over again…

I was not interested in Medicine (I wanted to be an engineer) . When I finally joined for my MBBS (at Kilpauk Medical College, Chennai in 1981), I found it all Greek and Latin! I was also embarrassed by the lack of my knowledge in the first class test in Anatomy (whereI obtained the lowest mark and was humiliated in front of the whole class by the professor). I resolved that I would never be embarrassed again and began to study hard. I had a few other friends who studied hard with me and we did very well and took top positions during the MBBS course (many of these were Bible Study group members). I followed the same strategies during my MS (at Madurai Medical College in 1990) and M.Ch (at Christian Medical College, Vellore in 1997). Even though I joined for my M.Ch after many years, God helped me to gain the first rank in the university in the subject! Let me share some of my thoughts with you in the folllowing 10 points:

  1. Anyone can do well at studies. This is not reserved for the geniuses. We need to be bookworms. How do we become one? It starts by declaring that we are a bookworm. When you meet friends, talk about the subjects you are studying. You will soon be labelled as a bookworm! Other bookworms will join you and you will soon find yourself firmly established as a member and it ill be difficult to leave the group. Pray – God has promised his help – James 1:5.
  2. If you have 1 year for the exams in a particular subject, choose a good textbook and read through the entire book in 9 months. This is the first revision. Revise repeatedly till the exams.These succeeding revisions take lesser time.
  3. If you need to read 50 pages a day, read through these in 15 minutes first. This will extablish in your short term memory what the book says about the topic (for example if you look at  diabetes: there is a definitiion, natural history and presentation, acute and chronic complications, investigation, management of the disease and complications and some special points – like the Somogyi effect and insulin resistance). Then read through the text once more and underline the key points to these headings. Write them out on the top and sides of the text in the book (this may disfigure your book, but you will find it easy to have your notes already in the textbook and you need to have only one book for both – reference and notes). This discipline has to become routine (like having a short quiet time of Bible study and prayer in the morning). If you want to take a break for a few days, make sure that you have worked harder on the previous days so that you are still on schedule when you come back after the break.
  4. You will notice that some of what you learn is logical – that fluid deficit , hyperglcaemia  and electrolyte disturbances are corrected in the management of ketoacidosis and treatment is also directed at the cause. However some have no logic – the names of enzyme deficiencies that cause various inborn errors of metabolism. We should underline and write out the points that are not easy to remember.
  5. We find it reassuring to reread the areas we know well (just to remind ourselves that there are some parts of the syllabus we know well!). However, this is a waste of time. From the first revision onwards, we should concentrate our efforts on the points that we cannot remember. As we learn more and more, we will find that the time taken for each succeeding revision becomes shorter and shorter. At the end, we can look at the chapter, mentally recollect its contents and move on to the next without reading.
  6. I feel that the brain shifts memories from short to long term by:

ñ  Repetition – if we keep repeating something long enough, we can’t forget it – a good strategy for the illogical points.

ñ  Reward – if learning is associated with a good feeling (like winning a prize or commendation from someone or even showing yourself that you know the subject better than others) we tend to remember what we learn. This does not happen when we just go through the subject for the sake of doing it.

ñ  Association – if what we are learning can be associated with something already known (already in long-term memory), it is easier to add it (the ‘flesh to bones’ technique).

  1. Discuss with your friends. You will find that as you discuss, what you studied becomes more clearer to you as you learn from another person’s perspective.
  2. Teach students who are poor at studies. This is not just social service! You will find that when you have explained the reasons for the various components of auscultatory findings in mitral stenosis to someone who is finding it difficult (for the tenth time!) you will not be able to forget it anymore (you have used two strategies – repetition and reward)
  3. Write all the prize exams (if you are eligible). There is nothing to lose. Since these are held before the main exam, they are like a dress rehearsal and you will find yoursef much calmer when you go for the main exam. You may even win the prize! (the reason why some people keep winning prizes – they write the exams!)

10.Reward yourself when you have completed a target – you could read your favorite book or spend some time on the internet looking at Facebook. Remember that God has put you in medical college so that you will be an excellent doctor – one day the difference between life and death for a patient in a remote area may be because you remembered something you studied years ago. You can (and should) get involved in other healthy activities at college but you should not forget that studies take a high priority. When you are confident with your studies, you are better able to enjoy the other activities.

This discipline will ensure that you do well in studies throughout your life. You will pass all your exams with ease. You will get into good postgraduate courses without  a struggle and you will be excellent doctors. You will also find that when you are a busy postgraduate student or a busy doctor later, even small amounts of free time are enough to keep up with studies. They will be a joy and a satisfaction to you. May God be with you.

Dr.Vijay Anand Ismavel MS, M Ch

Medical Superintendent – Makunda Christian Hospital, Assam

P.S. – you can contact me on ivijayanand@yahoo.in or on Facebook “Vijay Anand Ismavel’. Our hospital is also on Facebook “Makunda Christian Hospital” with some interesting case discussions. Please also look at our websites www.makunda.in and www.eha-health.org

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