AS I SIT down to write this letter, my mind has not recovered from yesterday’s overload of emotions. A day that gave us so much to be grateful for; a day that gave me so much to think about. Closer to home, I was following the abduction of Abigel Sara Reji, 6, from Kerala’s Kollam district on November 27. By noon on November 28, almost 20 hours after she was kidnapped, Abigel’s captors dumped her in the heart of Kollam town and fled. I would like to believe that the police dragnet, the blanket coverage by the media and a proactive local population forced the captors’ hand.
And, 3,000km away, in the mountains of Uttarkashi, the sun had set on the workers who had been trapped in a tunnel for 17 days. But by nightfall, there were 41 reasons to cheer as stretcher after stretcher brought the haggard miners out.
The medical world was closely involved in both places. Abigel was whisked away to the police camp for debriefing and then to a hospital to assess her physical and mental condition. In Uttarkashi, the sight of 41 ambulances lined outside the mouth of the Silkyara tunnel showed the preparedness of the medical team which had also set up a field hospital to deal with emergencies.
It is against this backdrop that THE WEEK brings you its 19th cover story on India’s best hospitals, backed by THE WEEK-Hansa Research Survey 2023. Principal Correspondent Pooja Biraia Jaiswal, Senior Special Correspondent Puja Awasthi and Correspondent Nirmal Jovial have done an excellent job of humanising what could have been a series of stories drowning in medical jargon. Especially so, because the theme this year is AI in health care.
I would also like to thank the friends of THE WEEK who have added to the cover story by way of columns or interviews: Dr M. Srinivas of AIIMS Delhi, Dr Randeep Guleria of Medanta, Suneeta Reddy of Apollo Hospitals, Anil Bhansali of Google India and Dr Nitish Shetty of Aster DM Healthcare.
As always, we try to bring a bouquet of engaging articles to you, dear reader. This time, too, it is not all hospitals. Nirmal has interviewed Dr V. Anantha Nageswaran, the current chief economic adviser to the Government of India. Deputy Chief of Bureau (Sports) Neeru Bhatia spoke to BCCI Honorary Secretary Jay Shah, touching upon the future of ODIs and the significance of cricket in the Olympics. Senior Special Correspondent K. Sunil Thomas has interviewed IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers about the airline itself and the larger aviation scene in the country.
My favourite article, I must say, is Dr Sandeep Jauhar’s open letter to medical interns. He has not varnished his life as an intern and has laid bare the blood, sweat and tears that flowed through those sleepless days. The article provides rare insights for the layman and is a comfort for the medical intern who might be feeling overwhelmed.