For a fleeting moment the schoolchildren donned the role of seasoned doctors and strutted around the hospital like professionals. Some interacted with patients. A few recorded their experiences by furiously noting down points in their notebooks. Others were busy soaking-up information thrown at them by the super-speciality doctors.

A unique programme to expose students, aspiring to become doctors, to real hospital conditions concluded at Yashoda Hospitals on Thursday. The four-day programme, between May 20 and 24 at all the branches of the group, gave an opportunity to students to participate in interactive academic sessions with doctors, classroom sessions, view surgery videos and lectures from senior hospital doctors.

“My dream is to become a doctor and I was desperate to attend this camp for first hand experience of working at hospitals. After four days, I realised that the work of a doctor is very challenging. But it gives a lot of satisfaction. I have to really work hard for a seat in medicine,” said Rachana, a student from St. Ann’s, Mehdipatnam.

Many from Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai also participated in the camp. “I was keen to attend the camp and learn from senior doctors. I wanted to get a feel of life while working as a doctor. They even taught us how to check the blood pressure and understand lab reports in camp,” said Spandana Tammiraju, a participant from Bangalore.

The camp attracted 4,000 entries of which 90 students, belonging to class 9 and 10 were selected. In addition to Hyderabad, students from Khammam, Karimnagar and Nalgonda also participated.

Students were given a kit consisting of a bag, pen writing pads including a doctor’s apron. Participation certificates were handed over to the students on the concluding day of the camp on Thursday.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Staff Reporter / May 25th, 2012