Medical Student picks biscuit from plate, examiner left stunned.

Mumbai: In an incident which has captured the imagination of medical students across the country, an anatomy external examiner was left stunned when a 1st year MBBS student during the viva exam picked a biscuit from his plate, instead of a bone.

Medical viva exams have a long history of being surrounded in controversy every year, with male students often accusing male external examiners of being partial towards females. The most famous & controversial viva incident was with a 1st year female student recently who was shown a uterus specimen and asked to identify it. When she was unable to do so, the male examiner gave her a hint that neither he, not her boyfriend had it. In spite of answering ‘brain’, she still surprisingly managed to top the university exam, for which she credited the prayers she performed the night before the exam.

In an exclusive interview with the Quackdoses, Dr. Kabhi Matbann ⟨™⟩, who is now being hailed as a future surgeon said, “On the 1st viva table, the examiner asked me to identify someone’s balls hanging from a forceps. When I answered that it was a ‘male testicle’, he annoyingly shouted back asking if I had ever seen ‘female testicle’. It made me so nervous and scared that I became Anand bhai of Munnabhai MBBS for the rest of the viva. On the 2nd exam table, when the external examiner asked me to ‘pick anything’, how was I supposed to guess that he meant a bone. Surprisingly, he did not ask me anything after I picked the Parle-G biscuit from his plate. Unfortunately, I had nothing to tell to my batch mates when I emerged from the exam room and they surrounded me to ask ‘Kya Pucha, Kya Pucha’.”

Taking cue from this incident and avoid a similar embarrassment, the Pathology Examiner’s Association has summoned its members to not offer students to ‘pick anything’ from the table during the viva exams, but instead personally hand over the formalin filled organ specimen jar to describe.

The Miracle

“You have to come back…. Where will I go with the 2 kids?” urged the sobbing wife clenching hard to her husband’s chest as he was being rushed in to the Cath lab, and I was still pushing some lifesaving drugs in him. Dramatic scenes which I don’t think I will ever forget in my life.

The 37 year old was brought to my department last month with history of sudden onset chest pain 30 minutes prior to arrival, followed by unconsciousness en route to hospital. On arrival, he was gasping, there was no pulse, spontaneous breathing, or recordable blood pressure with pupils which were non-reactive to light – no signs of life.

We immediately started CPR, initial rhythm was a ventricular fibrillation and he was shocked immediately, intubated and all life-saving drugs were given as we frantically tried to revive him.

After a gruesome 22 minutes, his heart started again and we immediately rushed him for an angioplasty as his ECG and bedside 2D Echo were suggestive of a massive heart attack.

His elder brother, sister in law, wife were all in tears and disbelief with lots of questions – we were also in a situation where we only could do our best and leave it to God, pray that the brain survives those precious minutes of CPR and that the heart does not go into sudden arrhythmias again.

I followed up with our critical care team that night and I was elated to know that he asked for his mother, he asked for water – signs that he was well protected neurologically - news which fills us with joy and satisfaction of saving that young life.

Against all odds, this patient WALKED BACK home from the hospital after a few days, with no neuro-deficit. He was clinically dead for 22 minutes, but miraculously, doctors brought him back to life, a tale nothing short of a medical miracle.

Today, the patient and his brother came to meet me and say thank you - a very emotional and heart touching experience which I will never forget in my life.

During our conversation, I also showed them my blog posts & Facebook posts, how even we at the hospital wished and prayed for his recovery.

When I told them that they should be thankful to God, I was left tear eyed when his brother said, "The only God we knew that day was you." I was left speechless.

"Can we have a photo of you with him? Please add his photo to your articles", he added.

Not a day goes by that I don’t thank God for all the miracles he does every day, and we’re happy to play a small role in them.

Note: Due to lack of awareness about bystander CPR in India, less than 5-7 % of patients suffering from out of hospital cardiac arrest actually survive. Not everyone is lucky like that patient. Hence, bystander and first responder resuscitation become extremely crucial. CPR effectively keeps blood flowing and provides oxygen to the brain and other vital organs, giving the victim a better chance for a full recovery.

CPR saves lives! Get trained – You have the power to save a life.

Patient’s relatives address female intern as ‘shister’, doctor goes berserk.

Mumbai: In a never before incident in the history of medicine, a patient had to face the wrath of a female medical intern’s anger after her relatives continuously addressed her as ‘shister’. In retaliation, the irate intern refused to catheterize the patient and to deliver the blood samples to the laboratory, for the patient who was posed for an emergency C-Section.

The unfortunate incident happened in the obstetric ward at the Quackdoses Multispeciality Hospital. It was only when the panicked houseman and registrar assured the intern that they will pay the arrears for all the tea-breakfast she had bought for the unit during her internship posting, did the young doctor calm down and agreed to not put her phone on flight mode the next day.

In an exclusive interview with us, the intern Dr. K’abhi Matbann (™) said, “I have lost count of how many times I was referred to as the ‘Khoon nikalne wali doctor’ by patient’s relatives while I was posted in medicine ward. The tone in which the relative said, “Ae shister, injection khatam ho gaya hai”, activated the fight-fright-flight mechanism of my sympathetic system, since it felt similar to stingingly being called ‘Auntie’ by people who are older than me. Why are the male co-interns wearing aprons not called by patients as mamas or technicians? Till when can we be immune to this inequality?”

Unconfirmed sources have claimed that after getting inspired by the courage of Dr. Matbann, the Obg-Gyn society of India has now launched a social media campaign to spread awareness for people to address them as Obstetricians or Gynecologists, and not ‘lady doctors’.