Shyam Kumar Adapa, who is a doctor working at a Primary Healthcare Center (PHC) in a little village in Andhra Pradesh, has enrolled in and has successfully completed 10 courses with NPTEL. He is one of the many bright students who have benefited from NPTEL’s course offerings. His knowledge is of immense use at a grassroots level, and has earned him great respect at his practice at Jiyyammavalasa PHC, Andhra Pradesh. In this interview, he opens up about his experiences with NPTEL and the ways in which NPTEL courses have helped create meaningful impact, especially in saving the lives of many children.
What are you currently pursuing and how did you get there?
I’m a paediatrician by profession, I work in a PHC (Primary Health Centre) at Jiyyammavalasa, in Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh. I completed my diploma in paediatrics and then took up the job here.
Why did you choose the medical profession?
I have always been passionate about the medical profession, and I think this began even as I was a child. Everyone sees godliness in doctors — it’s considered to be a very noble profession. I wanted to take part in that kind of nobility, which is what I worked towards this goal from a very early age.
You enrolled and religiously completed 10 courses with NPTEL. What gave you the motivation to do so, even after you were an established officer and did not have to study anymore?
Education has been one of my passions as well, for a very long time. I’ve finished many courses online from many different universities India, and my goal is to acquire at least one degree from every distance-learning university in India. I’ve already reached this target within the state of Andhra Pradesh — I have an MBA degree as well — and I hope to be able to continue learning.
How did you come across NPTEL?
I was looking for a scientist’s job at ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research), when I got a notification for a course on Health Research Fundamentals being offered by NPTEL. I happened to click on it and I found the course content very useful and highly research-oriented. I enrolled in this course, and since I found that my experience was satisfactory (especially because the mentors were greatly helpful) I decided to continue enrolling in many other courses.
This is especially useful because the government sector needs qualified people to help them out with a lot of work at the PHC. However, they do not have the resources to provide employees with the required qualifications. So it is necessary for some of us to upskill, which is where NPTEL is comes into the picture. Also, since open courses can be taken by anyone, I can enroll in courses that are not directly related to my field, which helps me broaden my knowledge.
What about NPTEL course-creation and design is the most attractive feature, to you?
The course duration is obviously one of the best features. The flexibility NPTEL offers me allows me to engage myself in learning many different things at once, but also at my own pace. Some courses are two-weeks long, while other more intensive ones may be eight to twelve weeks long. But I can take them together and still be able to give my attention equally, because I can watch the videos at my leisure. It’s really convenient, especially when you’re not a full-time student, and require more flexibility in your schedules.
The curriculum is also really good, as are most of the mentors. The website design is good, but there is potential for making it better.
Can you tell us about two of your favourite courses and how they have impacted you in your profession?
Stress Management was one of the most useful courses I ever enrolled in. When you are dealing with infants as young as 28 days, it’s very stressful even for a trained doctor to see treatment fail, or witness the death of an infant sometimes. It’s very depressing on a personal level — it makes it difficult to move forward to the next treatment, which might also be very urgent. Taking this course has helped me ease the stress and I know of the techniques using which I can make life as a paediatrician easier both for me and my patients.
A second useful course, I would say, was the Six Sigma course, which kept me updated on international standards to be maintained in healthcare — where certain implements need to be stored, how hospital standards should be maintained and so on. This is also extremely important for doctors, because a minute’s delay can be directly responsible for a patient’s death. Treatment should never be hindered just because the doctor could not find the right tool at the right time. Therefore, maintenance of healthcare standards is of immense importance and this course was really helpful in guiding me in the right way for this purpose.
As quality education becomes more expensive and inaccessible by the day, do you think online education portals such as NPTEL have the potential to create huge grass-roots impact?
Yes, online education absolutely has an impact. Especially for people like us who work in secluded areas, where other means of gaining skills and knowledge are very rare to come by. Also, since a single mentor can teach thousands of people at once, NPTEL is a great way of using existing resources to reach as wide an audience as possible.
However, there is a need for better outreach, in terms of publicity. Not many people know of the various opportunities out there that they can take advantage of. Smartphones may have bridged the gap and pushed us forward in comparison to, say, five years ago, but there is still a long way to go, and questions of access need to be addressed.
Would you recommend NPTEL courses to your students, people in the place you work at and your colleagues?
Yes, definitely. I have already referred a few relevant modules to some of my students. Some of them are very crisp and have condensed lots of crucial information in a clear, concise manner. If the students are of the right mindset, I’m sure it will help them out greatly.
This article is written by Ms.Sruthi Ranjani, HSS Dept., IIT Madras.
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