A softer touch
If there is one branch of medicine that requires more skill than most others, it is paediatrics. Besides the usual medical knowledge, a paediatrician, or a child specialist, must also gently handle young patients, some of whom are not even old enough to speak.
The ideal paediatrician, says Dr KK Kalra, medical superintendent at Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, New Delhi, “understands children 
and loves them, is a keen observer, dedicated, and listens to parents with patience. S/he is playful with children, full of humour, and treats them with empathy.”
In the West, a paediatrician treats children up to the age of 18; in India, the age ceiling is 14. There is one noticeable gap in a paediatrics student’s education in this country, says Dr Kalra. “The study programme in India does not take care of the (children’s) socio-psychological aspect fully. This is taught in more detail in the West.”
Paediatricians are in great demand — Dr Kalra rates it among the top five or so medical disciplines in terms of work opportunity. Most multi-speciality hospitals these days have a paediatrics department. “Now, exclusive paediatric hospitals for treating all types of medical and surgical cases are opening around India,” he adds.
Almost 17,000 doctors are enrolled with the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, and nearly 1,400 paediatricians are produced annually. But more are needed, “almost three times as many”.
For independent practice, “typically, six to seven years of work after MBBS is required”, says Dr Kalra. This includes a stint in a state or a private hospital.
To be a doctor of medicine in paediatrics, one needs an MD degree after MBBS. But paediatric surgery is a super-specialisation. Earning an MS degree following MBBS makes one a general surgeon. Three years’ further training makes one a paediatric surgeon. “It is a complex branch, as every organ (in a child’s body) is in miniature and it is an art performing surgery with the tiny instruments,” says Dr Rajiv Chhabra, consultant paediatric and neonatal intensivist, Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon.
A big part of the job is also psychological. “Kids are far more intelligent than what we think. Therefore, they should be advised (on their health) as one would advise an adult,” says Dr Chhabra.
And children should be told if they are sick. “Children have every right to know about the disease and the treatment,” states Dr Chhabra. “It affects the psyche of a child if he comes to know that his well-wishers have been lying to him. It is definitely a good.
Author: Sanchita Guha
Date: 24th Dec., 2009
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