msai fenestra - issue 01

1 MARCH 2016 FENESTRA- THE WINDOW INTO MSA INDIA

Fenestra- The First Issue

Fenestra is a window, an opening, a vista. Fenestra is a peek out into the big world or a peek inside a secluded soul; an opportunity to crane our necks out of the tiny box we have enclosed ourselves in or a privilege to dwell into the depths of our own complex beings.

The Medical Students Association of India brings to you its very own quarterly Newsletter, Fenestra, the window into MSA India.

VOL. 1 ISSUE 01 !1

“Aider Medicos”

THE GIANT MEDICAL BOOK DISTRIBUTION

CAMPAIGN

PAGE 03

INTRODUCING MSAI VANI

PAGE 02

THE SANITATION DRIVE

PAGE 04

NO SHAVE NOVEMBER

PAGE 05

FENESTRA

Moonlight floods the world, from

horizon to horizon.

How much it can fill your room,

depends upon your window…

Inside >


The dawn of the written word MSA India (MSAI) is still a very young organisation, as far as organisations go, in India. In the quest to find a strong foothold and make its voice heard over and above the current cacophony of deafening and maddening policies and attitudes when it comes to medical education and practice in this country, the founder members of MSA India had initiated such a strong recruitment and membership campaign that its after-shocks, even after four tedious and eventful years, still get us hoards of zealous and enthusiastic young medical students every month.

Medical students, who come in with their own extensive ideas and expectations of what they think MSA India and IFMSA would be and end up being thoroughly confused halfway through the work year. As a solution to this problem, the Executive Board and the Standing Committee on Medical Education, with the initiative taken by our own President for 2015-16, this year, decided to blow the dust off of the old bye-laws, forage through them and give birth to what is a well respected and well established division in the IFMSA, the Publication Support Division. And it was high time they did.

The Publication Support Division (PSD), headed by yours truly, within 3 months of laying its foundations, came up with two concrete publications aiming to be ready for the delegation going to the Malta General Assembly this March; the first and our most ambitious project being the MSAI Vani.

The Vani is our full-fledged annual magazine that rose with the tagline “ Taking our voices to the furthest corners”. ‘Vani’, in sanskrit, means voice, the power of speech, and it seemed highly apt for the first magazine of the organisation that echoes our work and our ideals to be named so.

A nation wide call for young scribes resulted in an extremely talented and hardworking team that worked overtime to get the magazine ready just in time. The magazine is a pristine glass showcase displaying proudly what MSA India has achieved in the past year. The first edition of the magazine also serves as an information booklet for everyone who is curious about how MSAI is built up, how it came into being, what it does and a lot more. We aimed to dispel ignorance and I believe Vani has been successful in doing so with insouciant ease.

-Schweta Rane

Publication Support Division Director

MSA India

VOL. 1 ISSUE 01 !2

The MSAI Vani- A venture full of

hope

Here are some glimpses of the first baby project of the PSD - the MSAI Vani. You can view the full PDF on www.issuu.com as well as the MSAI website (msa-india.org). For your own copy, send in a mail to [email protected] and we’ll add you to our mailing list!

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


VOL. 1 ISSUE 01 !3

'Aider medicos’ ! During medical schooling, an average medico reads roughly 15+books per year and these books do not come cheap. Benefitting over 600 medical undergraduate students of Third-Minor and Major across four major medical colleges in Mumbai, MSAI-SCOME 's "AIDER MEDICOS" was a wonderful initiative taken that "helped" medical students to save that extra penny that normally, they would have to spend on medical books. The medical books, ranging from textbooks to Post Graduate review books, were all supplied through MSAI to the medical students delivered to their medical colleges or even to their residence, as per the students' wish, at great discounted prices. The books featured MSAI SCOME stickers and pamphlets which contained some basic information about IFMSA and MSA India.

- Zarin Rangwala

Local Officer, SCOME

Compendium ‘15Compendium 2015 was organised by Hansel Misquitta and Shweta Kane included a host of amazing topics like a talk on STRESS MANAGEMENT by Dr Harish Shetty, MD psychiatry, a lecture on ETHICS AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY by Dr Avinash Supe , Dean of Seth G S medical college and KEM hospital, Mumbai, a talk on IVF and SURROGACY by Dr Jatin Shah, MD director of Mumbai fertility clinic and IVF centre, a talk by Dr Sumer Sethi, MD radiology and Dr Mala Srinivasan on the careers options post MBBS viz. about USMLE , PG & DNB.

Adolescent

Health Survey

In recognition of the urgent need for large-scale research into adolescent health, the MSAI initiated the Pan-India Adolescent Health study in 2014. Nearly 2 years since its launch the study is drawing to a close. Both physical and mental health status of the individual and risk factors for lifestyle disease and the level of awareness towards diseases are assessed. It is combined with an awareness program on general health and healthy lifestyle as well as research into the barriers in implementation of such awareness programs. All methods of assessment were carried out by the standardised WHO core questionnaire modules which covered hygiene, physical and mental health, diet, substance use, sexual behaviours, violence and injuries. The participants were recruited through stratified random sampling from schools and with informed consent subjected to the questionnaire. The final results are expected to reflect the general health status of Indian adolescents.

SCORP’s�� Online�� Peace��

Campaign��

MSAI SCORP initiated a Global Peace Campaign to show #WeStandForWorldPeace and to #SaynoToTerrorism to promote #LoveforAllHateforNone and to remind everyone about #Humanity


VOL. 1 ISSUE 01 !4

The

Blue

Camp

On World Diabetes Day, 14th November 2015, In partnership with Sree Renga Hospital, a diabetic camp was held despite heavy torrential rains in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu. The local officer for research exchange of MSAI, Dr. K. P. Abhishek conducted the camp where random blood sugar testing, counselling for appropriate diabetic care, complication screening for those diagnosed with diabetes , complete blood count and complete dental examination were done free of cost at the camp were. A total of 117 participants were screened. In an effort to spread awareness about diabetes, MSAI with the help of Ms. Hina Malik and Dr. Pankhuri Rai worked on a brilliant video which talks about the impact of Diabetes in India and the world. The video contains key facts including risk factors, prevention and epidemiology of the disease. The video is currently available for viewing on YouTube.

On 3rd November, 2015, Tuesday a team of 6 volunteers including Sonali Mehta(LO SCORP), Shweta Kane, Nikita Gupta, Riya, Aditya Meecheri, Laxmi went "Aamcha Ghar” (hindi: “Our House”), a Bhayander based orphanage, home to 23 young beautiful girls of age group 6-19 years. They collected clothes which were in a good condition and donated it to the NGO for Diwali, Indian festival of Lights that was coming up that month. They had also taken cakes, chocolates, biscuits for these girls. They also explained to them regarding hand hygiene, menstruation and menstrual health keeping in mind the age group.

Making the World SmileThe SCORP India team conducted an event "A step towards human rights and peace" in association with an NGO named Pragati in Mumbai. During the event, the children were told to fill a silhouette and were explained that they had the right to express anything they wanted to. The colourful handprints of all the children were cut and pasted on a large green chart paper, 'green' signifying human rights the centre of which had a few human rights written in Hindi- the national language of India. This activity was conducted in the hope that young minds will be imprinted with the message of human rights and peace.

A Step Towards Human Rights

The Mega Sanitation DriveThe sanitation drive was conducted on the 2nd Jan and the 7th Jan 2016 for a crowd of 1200 females from age group of 12 to 25. Many women living in the interiors are clueless about menstrual cycle do's and don'ts. Some are even unaware of the comfort and freedom that a sanitary napkin can provide. Upasana Society, along with MSAI, have embarked on a mission to educate around 100 girls from the S.K. Chaudhary school in Medha village near Vajreshwari and G.M. Momin College, Bhiwandi in the rural parts of Thane, a small suburb of Mumbai, about menstruation and hygiene. This was done in 3 sessions, where a total of more than 6000 sanitary napkin were donated and the ‘Gift a Pad’ campaign was initiated so that the institution can self sustain the need of sanitary pads. There are plans to distribute sanitary napkins to women on a monthly basis and regularly visit the place to monitor the outcome of the campaign. Proper disposal methods will also be set up to prevent damage to environment by improper disposal of sanitary napkins. The girls will also be educated regarding menstrual cycle and the myths about menstruation and hygiene.


VOL. 1 ISSUE 01 !5

MSA India in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, last October organised an event for Breast Cancer Awareness and Self- Assessment, Menopause and dealing with it and Gender Equality with an interesting skit that was performed for gender equality at YMCA , Andheri, Mumbai The organising secretary was Neha Masrani (LORP) who was helped by 18 volunteers including Nishtha Khatri (NORP) , Rajashree Vast (LORP) , Sonali Mehta (LORP) and Mubasshir Babar (NORA).

All About the Pink Ribbon

World AIDS DayWorld Aids Day is a day dedicated for expressing solidarity towards the victims of AIDS, a day in remembrance of lives lost to this gruesome disease and a day for rehabilitation of its victims as normal and productive members of the society. A warm sunny Sunday morning of 1st December, when most of us wouldn't budge an inch to move out of bed, witnessed 250+ enthusiastic participants, young & old, draped in the red t-shirts, all geared up to run for a cause.

‘M’OVEMBERThe response within our team for “No Shave November” at MSAI was overwhelming. We wrote about depression, we implored individuals to seek help, to challenge gender bias which refers to its victims as 'unmanly' or 'attention seeking’. We spoke about prostate cancer and actively pushed forward the idea that with detection and early screening, cancers are not only controllable but also reversible.

Sex-perience

Dr.Rajan Bhonsle, Professor and Head of Department of Sexual Medicine at Seth G.S. Medical College and K.E.M. hospital talked about the importance of sex education in school and college curriculums, love and intimate relations, and a talk on suicidal tendency and it’s prevention was given by Dr. Sagar Mundada, Psychiatrist, with Q and A session on suicide prevention since it was also the ‘World Suicide Prevention Day’. The lecture was attended by 650+ medical and non medical students and teachers. Various issues like marital rape and the myths prevailing in India were discussed. Dr. Bhonsle also highlighted the importance of sex education which has to be started from a very young age of 3 to 4 years which will help to prevent child abuse.


VOL. 1 ISSUE 01 !6

Messages for the MSAI-ans

Medical Students around the world have been working overtime to make a lasting contribution to the cause of propagating health, peace and security. This issue, we have amazing, encouraging messages from some SCORP teams telling us about their vision, their experience and giving us a glimpse into their work in the field…

MEXICO


VOL. 1 ISSUE 01 !7

TUNISIA

TURKEY

Ş

1 MARCH 2016 CONCEPT AND DESIGN BY: SCHWETA RANE

!8

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msai fenestra - issue 01

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