Jet-lag, flip-flops, and a whole lot of ice cream

It’s been a packed three days since we arrived at Madurai. We’ve already seen so many procedures and met so many kind Aravind doctors.

The afternoon that we arrived, the team settled into Harmony, a temporary hostel, where we were served our first South Indian meal of the trip! We then met up with Kunal and all the clinical sponsors to discuss the next three weeks at Aravind. Even though we were all extremely tired, we somehow made it through!

Saturday was our first day of rotations in the OT, where we earned doctor status. Surprisingly, all six of us fit right in with our hospital attire – even Noah, who after rummaging through the entire shelf, found a pair of flip flops that semi-fit him.

On Sunday, we had the unique opportunity to visit two Aravind camps, where doctors and nurses, or “sisters”, were brought to local villages to screen patients for cataracts, glaucoma, refractive errors, and diabetic retinopathy FOR FREE. Over 400 patients were seen amongst the two camps and those who required surgery were referred to Aravind. Luckily, NJ was able to communicate in Tamil with the patients and convey their stories to the rest of the team – although, we’re all learning Tamil, slowly but surely. another dosa venum, am I right? We did a lot of serious note taking and observations, but also got the chance to explore the area!