Recently, I embarked on an adventure to India. The trip was part of an exchange program sponsored by The Smile Train (smiletrain.org), a charitable organization primarily dedicated to helping patients with cleft deformities in the developing world. I left roughly a week after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, so as you can imagine my mom, sister and girlfriend were more than just a little nervous about me going.
Passing time at the airport in London
The trip lasted 11 days, although because of the distances traveled, I was only in India for a week. The town I visited is called Hisar. It is in the state of Haryana in northwest India about a three hour drive from Delhi. Because of a paucity of tourist sites, the town itself is infrequently visited by Americans. Thus, many of the inhabitants viewed me as quite a novelty.
This was my first trip with The Smile Train, so I was a little uncertain of exactly what to expect. Instead of going with a team, the Smile Train exchange program allows individual plastic surgeons to plan their own trips to credentialed sites in the developing world. While in Hisar, my time was spent almost exclusively with Dr. Sunil Soni, an incredibly well trained Indian plastic surgeon. Dr. Soni’s practice is full of variety with the majority of his time spent treating patients with clefts, burns, hand problems, trauma, hypospadias, and occasionally cosmetic concerns.
Dr. Sunil Soni, myself, and the scrub nurse a.k.a. "half ticket"
The medical building we worked in is set up a bit differently than the ones here in America. The building itself has four levels. In the basement was the laboratory, pharmacy and physical therapy room. The first floor had the operating room, and doctors’ offices. Dr. Soni shares the building with his brother Monish, an orthopedic surgeon. The second floor had the patient rooms with roughly 20 beds. The top floor was the apartment where Dr. Soni lived with his family. Larger, standard hospitals also exist in India, but this privately owned set up is much more common.
Dr. Soni's Hospital
During the week that I was there, we did quite a few procedures. As you can imagine, I tried to take as many pictures as possible.
A 16 year old boy with an unrepaired cleft lip
A young boy with a hand deformity
A young girl who was thrown from a car
We operated on patients with cleft lips, cleft palates, other cleft deformities, burns, serious infections, trauma, hand deformities, lower extremity wounds, and we even did a breast reduction (one of my more common procedures in the U.S.). A handful of procedures I did myself, but the majority of cases were done by Dr. Soni with me either assisting or just observing. The staff was very well trained and treated me like royalty.
Dr. Soni's Staff
Dr. Soni’s wife, Archna, was a tremendous hostess and did her best to make me feel welcome. Everyday, we had lunch and dinner in Dr. Soni’s home. I was able to sample a wide variety of classic Indian foods. Much of the cuisine is vegetarian and a lot of it was quite spicy. In addition, we also had a few meals at the family home where Dr. Soni’s parents live with Monish and his wife and daughter. Dr. Soni’s father is also a plastic surgeon as is his youngest brother.
Dr. Soni with his father, Dr. S.K. Soni
Much of my time was spent discussing American and Indian cultures. Apart from the differences, I learned that many similarities also exist. The Indian people I met were all very hard workers. They typically work everyday, and only occasionally work a half day on Sunday. I told Dr. Soni a number of times that in the U.S. we call those people “workaholics.” In addition to work, I was also able to attend a wedding feast, have drinks with the guys one night, and spent an afternoon touring the city including a local Hindu temple.
Celebrating at a wedding feast with my new friends
There were a number of experiences that really made an impression on me. One of the more interesting sights is the massive numbers of cows that wander the streets.
Cows wandering the streets
As most people know, cows are sacred in India and they are pretty much allowed to do as they please. Routinely, cars have to swerve around a cow walking down the middle of the highway. Another fascinating thing was the driving habits of the Indians. No offense to any of my Indian friends, but they drive like maniacs over there. For Indians, the horn is as important as the steering wheel or the brakes, if not more so. The roads are crowded with big trucks, cars, three wheeled taxis (sometimes with ten people crammed inside), motorcycles (sometimes with four passengers), and carts pulled by a variety of animals including bullocks and camels.
Cart being pulled by a camel
A standard taxi
It would be difficult for me to overstate just how much tea i drank while in India. Anytime we sat down for more than a couple of minutes, someone brought us tea which they call “chai.” They weren’t real big on coffee in India. I ordered it a couple of times, but it mostly tasted like tea.
Of course, one of the most difficult thing to see in India is the poverty. Although, the Indian economy has been growing rapidly, a large portion of the population remains exceedingly poor. The city streets were often lined with men from rural areas who had travelled to Hisar in search of work. Many of these men perform manual labor and are paid the equivalent of $3 a day. We saw a number of patients who had been injured on the job. Some of the electrical burns are especially challenging. In particular, we took care of a 16 year old guy who had suffered a severe electrical burn. For mostly financial reasons, he didn’t present to the clinic for about three weeks. He had been treated by a local “healer” with what appeared to be ink. It’s a wonder he didn’t lose his hand.
A severe electrical burn apparently treated with ink
Overall, it was a tremendous, life changing trip. Although, it turned out a little different than I expected, it was quite rewarding and extremely educational. Before embarking on the trip I was very excited about all the people I was going to help, and the huge difference I was going to make (sometimes, surgeons get these “delusions of grandeur”). However, while in India I was reminded that often the greatest value of trips like this one is how they help me. These experiences improve my understand of the world outside of my comfortable surroundings. Exposures of this nature assist me in reviving those portions of my heart that can become numb over the years. I would strongly encourage anyone reading this to consider a similar adventure.
The Soni brothers with their families
