Not many medical college departments have undergraduate students co-authoring papers, much less travelling abroad to present them.
Off to Sao Paulo
But the department of surgical gastroenterology at Madras Medical College (now an institute) does things differently. Later this year, five undergraduate students of the department will travel to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to present their papers at the International Gastric Cancer Congress. A total of 18 papers from the department have been accepted at the Congress.
The department began in 1978, under the leadership of N. Rangabashyam. “Our key focus areas are: patient care with concern and commitment, creating awareness in society, and research,” says department head, S.M. Chandramohan. When it comes to research, the department has done quite a lot. Between 2008 and 2014, it gave 206 national presentations, 132 international ones and won 35 national awards and 30 international ones.
Travelling abroad for the first time to present a paper, the five undergraduate students say they couldn’t have done it without the support and guidance of the department.
“A lot of undergraduate students think research is very hard and requires a lot of money. But all we need are interest and motivation. Our paper is called ‘Gastric Cancer: A Retrospective Study’,” says 21-year-old Mohammed Nishar, one of the students.
Chidambaram Ramasamy, another student, says their study had five components and looked at 687 patients over the course of a year.
Initiatives
Patient care comes through in the initiatives taken by the department: a helpline (9444901234) for patients, an email account where doctors reply to patients’ queries, and now, even a Whatsapp group.
Awareness is another area the department focuses on.
“The institute does an outstanding job when it comes to corrosive treatment, especially with those who have swallowed acid. Many patients rejected by other hospitals have been treated and taken care of here,” says dean R. Vimala.
