ISN Conference at Hyderabad

This year, NephroPlus put up a stall at the Annual Conference for the Indian Society of Nephrology. I attended all the days of the four day event. It was a great experience.

First of all, I saw everything 'nephrology' around me. Erythropoietin stalls, Iron stalls, Dialysis machine stalls, Dialysis center stalls. Kidney was probably the most used word around the conference!

There were a lot of very good sessions by stalwarts from round the world. And there were a lot of people attending the sessions - something contrary to what I was given to believe.

More than anything, however, I got the feeling that it was a great opportunity to network. For nephrologists, for corporates, for vendors, for everyone in the Nephrology industry.

I met with a lot of nephrologists, some of them pioneers, from around the country.

I ran into my own nephrologist, the man who has been treating me for the last fourteen years, Dr. Girish Narayen. He introduced me to his friend. While introducing me, he said he was not sure whether he should refer to me as his patient or his colleague (because of my current job at NephroPlus)!!

The most interesting meeting was with a doctor formerly associated with AIIMS, New Delhi. He came to our stall along with another doctor and started writing his name in our Visitor's Register. I was dumbstruck for a second as I saw the letters form. It was Dr. S. C. Dash. Dr. Dash is a very senior and respected nephrologist. When I was initially diagnosed with atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, a kidney biopsy was done to confirm the diagnosis. Due to the extremely rare nature of this disease, the biopsy slides were sent to Dr. Dash to confirm the diagnosis. This was a major step in my treatment.

I introduced myself to the doctor and told him that he had seen my biopsy slides years back! He of course did not remember that (he has probably seen thousands of biopsy slides!). But he gave me a playful box on my stomach and said he was very happy to see me like this, meaning, in good shape.

It was an excellent experience overall. When I moved to healthcare, specifically nephrology, from something as different as software, I never thought these things would happen. It has brought me close to many people I never imagined I could even be in touch with.

Comments

goggly said…
Hi Kamal

It was pleasure to meet you after knowing you from the vitual world.

You are a good role model and catalyst for both patients and dialysis service providers. Together we shall strive to make available high quality dialysis treatment at affordable prices

Let us keep in touch.

milind
nipro
Kamal D Shah said…
Hi Milind,

It was a pleasure to meet you as well. Yes, let's definitely keep in touch!

Thanks
Kamal