Dr. Ravi Ramakantan sir, one of the greatest Indian radiologists and a legendary teacher (former Head of Department Radiology, KEM Hospital Mumbai and Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital Mumbai), does this interesting exercise in his radiology lectures in front of a packed audience. He asks everyone in the audience to close their eyes, be completely honest with themselves and raise their hands if the answer is yes:
Before selecting radiology as a career, did you know 100% what Radiology is all about?
In an audience of hundreds, hardly a few hands go up. He would do another exercise for every new batch of first-year radiology residents in his department. He would ask each one of them individually:
Why did you select Radiology as a career?
The answers would range from thoughtful silence to “I like photography”, “I want a chill life and earn big bucks” to “I would like to stay in touch with all organ systems and branches”.
It is NEET-PG counseling time again and I get messages and calls from many places in India every year asking about radiology as a career choice. All the aspirants’ questions can be distilled into two broad ones: