We boarded Air India flight 102 with an optimistic outlook
on our upcoming two weeks in Varanasi. We were eager to immerse ourselves in a
new culture and experience our first Holi. Most of all, we looked forward to
meeting Dr. Subodh, founder of G S Memorial Plastic Surgery Hospital, who won
an Oscar in 2008 for his documentary, Smile Pinki. Our excitement was met with
some anxiety because we wanted to meet Dr. Subodh’s expectations and provide
him with valuable recommendations. For the past two months, we spoke with Dr.
Subodh consistently to learn about the hospital, scope the project, and
complete independent research to familiarize ourselves with healthcare in
India.
The majority of healthcare in India is privately run, making
it much too expensive for most people to access care. G S Memorial partners
with Smile Train and Wonder Work and provides state of the art plastic surgery
and burn care at an affordable cost to poor Indians. To date, 25,000 patients have received cleft
palate reconstructive surgery at no cost and over thousands have received care
at a low-cost. By restoring smiles, G S Memorial is helping to provide equal opportunities
for patients. In an effort to continue Dr. Subodh’s amazing work, our project
will focus on how to leverage telemedicine in unmet areas to improve clinical
operations and increase burn patient volume, while maintaining quality care.
After four movies, an Indian dinner, and some sleep we
landed in Delhi. Unfortunately, not all of our bags made the journey.
Nevertheless, we headed for our hotel and that’s when the adventure began. Rush
hour traffic gained an entirely new meaning. Horns honked constantly as our
driver maneuvered his way through the city. After what seemed like hours, we
arrived at our hotel. That night we braved the city and walked to dinner. The
streets were lively with vendors as we searched for our first authentic Indian
meal. We were welcomed in to one restaurant by a man in traditional garments.
We ordered more rice, curry and naan then we could eat. Nevertheless, it was
the perfect ending to our first day as we headed back to our hotel to rest for
the following day’s trip to the Taj Mahal.
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