Trushdeep, India

I am a medical student from India, and I work as a part-time observer at a Cancer Hospital and Research Institute in my hometown. I was lucky to be a part of multiple surgical procedures like mastectomy, thyroidectomy, orchidectomy, amputation, and many more. Finally, after a year of being an observer, I got the chance to assist in suture and close the incisions of the surgery.

I had practiced on a mannequin before, yet I felt quite underconfident when it came to assiting it on the patient. I started quite hesitantly and it was evident from my actions that I was a newbie. The surgeon observed this and the nurse tried to help me along the procedure. I successfully did my first assistance in suture under his supervision.

After this incident, I got multiple opportunities to assist in surgeries and I was always reminded of the nurse who helped me. The following month, I left for a research training program at a prestigious institute in India. And after I returned back, my end-semester exams were waiting for me. I sailed back to my college and after a month of sleepless nights, I was done with the semester.

I returned to my hometown. I decided to meet the director of the Cancer Hospital the day I returned. He is the head surgeon under whom I used to be an observer. I went to the hospital during his hours and I met him and had a conversation about the exam. We then proceeded to take a round in the Chemo ward. When went from one room to another and after the third room, as soon as we entered the fourth room, it was the same nurse who was there during surgeries who laid on the bed. Unable to speak, walk, talk, and even comprehend what was being told to her. She had developed metastasis to the brain following late-stage breast cancer. All this was due to negligence, all of this was preventable.

In India, people tend to neglect health issues until they progress to late stage. The lack of a screening program is what aggravates this problem further. As of now, India lacks a systematic, organized, government-funded breast cancer screening program. Also, awareness needs to be spread about Self-Breast Examination(SBE). I conducted a cross-sectional study during my period as an observer about 'Why do breast cancer patients delay presentation despite financial aid?'. After interviewing 176 participants, the leading cause was negligence on the part of the patient, followed by the patient seeking help from a relative, and the relative just ignoring the complaint totally and assuring the patient that it is completely normal.