Medicine Beyond NEET

Some follow traditional paths and some deny this traditional trajectory and choose to walk on what calls instead of what awaits. And to make this true, we had Dr. Shobhit Saxena as our guest.

About his profile

Dr. Saxena has completed his education from Aligarh Muslim University and is currently doing residency in the subject of pathology at JNMC, AMU. Before, he was enrolled in B.Tech but transitioned to MBBS, placing himself into one who completed his journey and the one who, for some reasons, couldn't.

Awareness and the reality of career choices

Awareness plays a big role when allowing yourself to choose, especially when thinking of a career. He highlighted the same and reflected upon how students only see a small part of the entire profession but a lot more goes behind it, emphasizing how many students choose careers on autopilot, following social expectations without considering whether the path suits their own strengths and goals. And also, provided with the solution: acknowledgment. Once you acknowledge the problem, that is the way towards healing.

Choosing medicine and what it takes

The session focused on describing medicine not as all glamour rather a grind. A grind to be patient, disciplined and willing to dedicate years of life to serving others. Today, it demands a purpose. Many may enter due to pressure and expectations, but the mismatch will create collapse. Thus, he emphasized the strong "why" which will carry you through every storm.

Title vs responsibility

Towards the end, the speaker focused on why the title is not enough to be a doctor. It takes long hours, emotional and physical exhaustion, continuous doubt, responsibility and sacrifice, which becomes unbearable with pressure but meaningful with passion.

Larger picture

Drops may feel like an entire world has fallen apart and may lead to discouragement. But the speaker urged us to take a step back and focus on the larger picture. One year may feel like a failure, but that does not define the next thirty years. On zooming out, it will look like a mere pause which only strengthens the long journey ahead.

As this session came close to an end, we realized how we as students lack awareness and understanding of inner workings of one noble profession. And talks like this provide a deeper, bigger and clearer picture that we rarely find in our textbooks. But our journey does not end here, the next chapter unfolds at ShiftCon 2.0.