When I was new to my field, words like “capacity building,” “supply chain,” and “differential service delivery” seemed very difficult to understand.
There was no one to explain these words, and I wasn’t even technologically equipped. Then one fine day I read a book on Do We Care? on India’s health system and the Oxford Handbook of Public Health. This was a huge turning point in my understanding of community medicine.
I was taking only mediocre lectures before reading these books. I had read many health management books and some on systems thinking. But something felt incomplete until one day I decided to reflect and be elaborate.
I started reflecting for almost two hours a day on specific words like “capacity building” in the context of national health programs and public health systems, like a situational analysis, for example, in terms of immunization capacity or contraception or, say, primary health care. I understood each part in the form of funds, functions, and functionaries with respect to each program. I started building upon operational research ideas and read work done on decision support systems and their prospective utility in Indian healthcare systems.
Then I revised my strong points gathered during undergraduation in Russia, which gave an upper edge to my knowledge back in my homeland. All infectious diseases and noncommunicable diseases I read thoroughly in my formative years there, and so I did not require much labor in preparing them for my postgraduation and beyond.
Maybe I won’t ever be appreciated for this hard work because people do not think the way I do. But one thing is for sure: a proficiency in the language and vocabulary of your subject and uttering words with regard to it should not be frivolous; we need to use words that we mean, and then only our teaching and expertise are ethical.
I find teachers speaking the words ‘proper hygiene,’ ‘proper nutrition,’ and ‘proper sanitation’ quite a lot during their classes. This is something that has irritated me since my undergraduation because one should be specific about what “proper” means. Imagine that you tell your patient to take proper nutrition or maintain proper hygiene. To be an effective preventive medical officer, one needs to tell them to trim nails and wash hands often or have 10 grams more fiber than usual or add a bowl of rice to their food, and so on.
We have come a long way together—me and my mesmerizations on the subject. Some excellent teachers have contributed to my skills, and I was always keenly interested and serious about my subject.
There is a lot more, but I let the juniors think about what they utter and how correct their knowledge is, as reflected by their words, language, and vocabulary in the subject.
I discussed the language dilemma very early in my career with my two classmates, inspiring them to learn the language well. I suggested to them that these doctors cannot teach us effectively or will cut down on information if they use English as their medium of discussion. It is better that we learn their language.
And now as a professor, I emphasize speaking in simple words and learning a student’s language to get to their level and then explaining the points that they will remember to pass their exams.
This is not to promote myself but to share with my readers that sincerity is a highly valued skill in the long run. The one who is your professional rival will also respect you deep inside for it even if he is defiant about it because of his incapabilities or ego.
To understand philosophy, I fall back on a friend who read Meditations almost 30 times and reflects deeply upon each prose, gaining meaningful information, and disseminates the spiritual and stoic wisdom exceptionally in comparison to many other philosophers he writes about.
I am still not there with my subject of community medicine, but there are many who think that I have mastered it already through learning, writing, and treating.
Try to become spiritual in your approach, and make a sincere effort to gain pure knowledge, and to do so, you have to, but not least, learn its language and vocabulary thoroughly. You should never act oversmart nor believe that you are the best because you are fooling yourself out of inexperience or the ego of an old person.
I know a doctor who called himself a struggler in our expertise, who I came to know, even made notes for his thesis work separately for viva. Hardworking chaps are very few. Sometimes strugglers know the subject better. I used to make fun of him, but I realize that he was and is very sincere; it was a pleasure working with him.
Hope my readers will support me with their sincerity in preparing for their subject always and do justice to the scientific upgradation of their school of thought. There may be 40 percent of people like that, but lost opportunity is among 60 percent of them. Work upon it sincerely. Take it seriously.
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