IIPH-Delhi has a faculty of dedicated public health professionals with a treasure of knowledge, says Sukanya

After facing constant failures and endless dilemmas after completing graduation from dental school in December 2017,  I decided to switch gears to public health for exploring opportunities in the existing health system of our country and reaching out to a larger population, contrary to one on one patient dealing in dentistry. I always longed for an academic track in my career and desired to play an integral role by working in a humanitarian agency for a good cause that would also suffice my desire of contributing to a positive change in society. Unfortunately, I was waitlisted for MPH at PHFI Delhi - Indian Institute of Public Health, but I wanted to pursue my further education from this very institute and hence, applied for PGDPHM (Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health Management). I got selected and joined IIPH-Delhi in August 2019.  This course not only appeared as a fresh ray of hope but also served as a saviour to avoid wasting another crucial year in making a career. Being a fresher, even after a year, it was thrilling to explore new possibilities in this new direction of life and interaction with new people and a new place, overall a feeling of rejuvenation.

So far, the experience has been like a roller coaster ride. Time flies very soon. Initially, it felt like a task to study so many topics in just a span of seven to eight months. As a batch, this one year, of course, will always be special. We made a lot of memories to cherish for the lifetime and had a lot of fun during class time. Even now, when the entire world is going through a public health crisis (Covid-19), while sitting at home, that aura of sitting in the class and listening to interactive lectures is being missed. In my opinion, everything was new to me and I learned a lot. The most impressive and special thing about this place is the entire faculty. Each and every teacher here is a treasure of knowledge and dedicated public health professional. I was fortunate enough to receive valuable education from such amazing, learned people and, the exposure that we got from attending informative lectures of honourable people from the Public Health domain. The entire IIPH-D team is cooperative and nice. Every academic place and its programme has its own set of pros and cons and so does this programme.

Just like everybody else, I too had certain expectations from this programme. It is a very compact programme with a lot to cover and at times it is challenging to manage so much of work at once along with so many internal assessments and presentations. As we all are facing unprecedented times, everything is uncertain and so are we afraid as to how things would take a turn academically. Whether we will get a job or not? How will this course be completed? Where millions are on verge of losing jobs we still expect that we will be back to the institute and await for the guidance from our supervisors. There were apprehensions during the time of getting an internship too and thankfully I landed an opportunity at PHFI itself but currently due to the pandemic crisis we are working remotely.

Undoubtedly, this place is full of knowledge and a lot is learned not just theoretically but also the practical insight of behavioural sciences. I am not a tech-savvy person, yet here  I had first-hand experience with the software and revision of statistics, MS office applications, etc. I developed confidence in the delivery of my speech by leading presentations and sometimes speaking a few words on some celebratory occasions. Another good thing about this place is that, on every occasion, there is a small celebration that brings the whole IIPH-D family together and there are cheers all around. I really liked my batch because it is so diverse in itself. There are people from different parts of the country and it has been a whole new experience getting to know the different perspectives and learn something. We have a lot of memorable happy and tensed moments together personally as well as professionally. One of the best being, tuning to music, dance and watching movies in the ‘John Snow Room’ during lunch, preparation of Umang and,  in my spare time as well. It was a mixture of emotional and practical balance. I am definitely going to miss each and everyone who was part of this short journey- Inspiring faculty members, teaching, non-teaching staff and, my fellow colleagues. I am grateful to all of them for this wonderful experience and look forward to succeeding in achieving my ambitions through this crucial stepping stone in my career.

About the author

Dr Sukanya Pathak is a student at PHFI Delhi - Indian Institute of Public Health.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha