The married doctors changing lives through neonatal education in India

We were building our careers and in 2002 Arunaz decided to move to the UK. I stayed in Delhi. It was not a good time for our marriage. After a year apart, I joined her and got a job at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. In 2005, we moved to Melbourne, where she had family. Not long after that our son Avi was born. Arunaz's hours are unpredictable as she delivers babies, so I am the house husband – I do the cleaning, washing and cooking. She never sleeps before 1am because she is up writing academic papers. I get up at 6am to prepare Avi for school. I have three careers: neonatologist, educator and scientist. At the Hudson Institute [at Monash Health, Victoria's largest public health service] we've been working on brain injury related to prematurity and birth complications; every year, about a million babies die due to complications of birth asphyxia worldwide. We wanted to teach how to prevent these deaths, so applied to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a grant. We were awarded $100,000. Arunaz and I did our first workshop with health workers in India's Punjab state in 2015. We teach using simulation with a plastic pelvis and rubber baby. Arunaz shows how to deliver a baby and how to look after the mother: a post-partum haemorrhage can be fatal. I show how to look after the baby. Participants sometimes forget it's a plastic doll that comes out of a model pelvis, especially in scenarios where they feel the clock ticking if the baby's shoulders get stuck in the birth canal. We go annually, and late last year taught more than 300 people.

Ever since I was in my teens, I have wanted to do well. I want to contribute to the community. Arunaz and I share those values. We don't waste time. Productivity is key for us both. Even when holidaying, Arunaz likes to do so in a productive manner – on a trip to Italy we travelled to 12 places in eight days! When Arunaz puts her mind to something, she gets it done. It's the same with her patients. She is a dedicated doctor and does her best. ARUNAZ: I got to know Atul through a mutual friend at medical school. He thought deeply about things and had a slightly lateral perspective on life, which I found attractive. I wouldn't say our courtship was romantic; it was more of a planned thing. He has never given me flowers and I probably shopped for my own ring. He was like, "This is what I have to offer, take it or leave it." He is quite a blunt person in that regard. At some point I told him, "We are going to get married. You are going to become a neonatal paediatrician and I'm going to be an obstetrician and later we will work together." It's good we have achieved that.

We had been married for two years when I went to England. I was disillusioned with work and moved to build my career. It's the one time in my life I feel I deserted him. We almost broke up, but Atul brought us back together; he left midway through a sought-after fellowship at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and made a huge sacrifice to join me. But Atul has this confidence that he'll do well. I'm the one who struggles. He has always pulled me alongside. After two years, we decided to move to Melbourne. I gave birth to our son Avi in the hospital where we both work. Atul was on call while I was in labour. His pager kept beeping. It was hilarious. I told him to turn the bloody thing off. We thought we knew everything about pregnancy and being parents but actually we didn't know anything. When I went through labour myself, I realised from the women's perspective how it feels to undergo the stress of what can "actually go wrong" and how decision-making and management could affect mine and my baby's life! I gave birth to our son in the hospital where we both work. Atul was on call while I was in labour. His pager kept beeping. It was hilarious.

If it weren't for Atul, I wouldn't have excelled at university courses and I wouldn't have a private practice. I have no idea what school uniform Avi needs on certain days; Atul does everything at home. If there were such a thing as a perfect husband, he would come close. Atul and I had very different upbringings. I grew up in Delhi and he grew up in the Middle East, where his father worked as an electrical engineer. In year 9 he decided on medicine and flew back to India. He lived with his granddad, who had cancer. Atul took his granddad to all his appointments. I saw how he cared for him and thought if he was going to do that for him, he would do it for his own family. Atul is very clear with his patients. If a baby is dying he will just spell it out, whereas most of us sugar-coat it. He is very smart, and if there is a tiny error in a patient's plan, he will pick it up. He gets cards from patients saying how much they appreciate his care. Atul comes up with brilliant ideas, like the obstetric and newborn emergency training we do in India. He is the driving force. He wants to do something to make the world a better place. That is what motivates him. To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page atThe Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.

Source: Smh.com.au

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