Their response was almost uniformly a concerned, "if you can make the merit, then there is no place to discriminate physically". I was lucky enough to do a clerkship in radiology at Harvard University, where I posed the question about differently able medical students to senior staff. So why then, did educators try to stop people with impairments at the gates? The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) enables these practitioners to work safely, with reasonable limitations on practice. There are doctors in Australia and the world who practice with a variety of challenges. This was not only disappointing, but hurtful.Įducation is meant to be an expansive activity that extends the boundaries of human endeavour. Shortly after I came back to medical school, the Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand (MDANZ) created a policy document that potentially closes the door to medical students with a wide range of challenges in the auditory, sensory, motor and psychological domains. I don't regret any of my experiences, but hope that they can make things easier for those who follow. The most frustrating thing is probably poking at something on a high shelf to get it down.ĭr Dinesh Palipana says he is "living his dream" and the best part of being a doctor is the people - patients and colleagues. But as functional as I feel, I won't be performing neurosurgery anytime soon. I've learned ways to hold my stethoscope, and feel someone's abdomen with the part of my hand that has sensation. If I had to choose one favourite thing about being a doctor, it'd be the people - both patients and colleagues.Īs with the cannula, I've found ways to do many things. On the contrary, I've been honoured to be able to be a part of many patients' journeys. None of my patients have reacted badly to me. I only say this to show that it can be done, despite physical challenges. I was humbled to be nominated, with several of my colleagues, for intern of the year at our hospital in 2017. I love the job, and not many days have felt like work. ![]() I'm spending six months in the emergency department as a junior house officer. Video: Dr Palipana has adapted how he works by using the parts of his hands that still have sensation. It was a great moment filled with happiness, but an interesting time followed. I slept on Saturdays and started again on Sunday.Īfter nearly two years of this, I successfully graduated from medical school. I studied as much as I could, especially since I'd been away for five years. This is a small step for most doctors and nurses, but a giant step for me.Īfter waking up at 4 or 5:00am, I was at the school or hospital until the last tram left every single day. One of my biggest triumphs was learning to insert an intravenous cannula, albeit with a little bit of help. I had to figure out how to do a lot of things without my fingers. I had no concrete plan at this point, but knew that I wanted to get back to medicine one day.Īfter some lengthy discussions with staff from my old medical school at Queensland's Griffith University, I eventually decided to hop on a plane and get back to studying. That was January 31, 2010.Ĭhithrani Palipana with her son Dinesh Palipana in Sri Lanka, where Dinesh was recovering from a horrific car crash. In a serendipitous turn of events, in the ambulance was a doctor named Stephen Rashford who had actually given me a lecture a short while before the accident. My spinal cord had probably taken a hit.Ī good Samaritan, Chris Bailey, pulled over and held my bleeding head until an ambulance came. The gravity of what happened dawned on me. Worst of all, I couldn't feel or move my legs. My favourite white T-shirt was soaked in blood. When my Nissan X-Trail eventually stopped rolling, I looked around in shock. My last thought when the car started rolling was: I can't stop this now. It was a dark night soaked with the smell of fresh rain. I was exactly halfway through medical school when my car aquaplaned on Brisbane's Gateway Motorway. And I certainly never imagined practising medicine with quadriplegia. He is Queensland's first quadriplegic doctor. ![]() ![]() Dr Palipana is a medical intern at the hospital after graduating from Griffith University in 2016. Dr Dinesh Palipana examines a patient at Gold Coast University hospital.
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