Deebya Raj Mishra

We live in an unequal world. The very thing that is considered routine in some places might be considered a rarity in other places. The same holds true for healthcare services even in the Asia-Pacific region. This is where I really appreciate the APSR for allocating awards specifically to LMICs. It is due to this inclusivity that I have been lucky to be awarded with the APSR / Malcolm Winterburn Lung Cancer Young Investigator Award for our paper on “EBUS and EUS-B in resource-limited settings: A single centre experience from Nepal.”

While EBUS has been in use for more than a decade in some countries, EBUS was introduced in our country only in late 2018 – early 2019. The introduction of the same does add a huge value to the quality of care and is essential for “standard lung cancer care”. With its introduction, suddenly sedation becomes a more complex issue in the Bronchoscopy suite. Again, while some centres might have dedicated anesthesia teams, centres like ours have to make do with Fellows in Pulmonology for managing the same. These stark contrasts between different centres do need to be highlighted from time to time to give us all a sense of “local” perspective.

To continue with our story, while the reuse of EBUS needles might be frowned upon in resource-rich countries, sadly this is common place (with due sterilization of course) in our setting. Making everyday procedures flow smoothly is also a challenge and overcoming these needs determination and a collegial team, and we have been lucky to have a great team on floor.

This award coming during these testing times of the pandemic gives us added motivation to develop the nascent field of pulmonology in Nepal and at the same time gives us the satisfaction that even big societies like the APSR appreciate the work we do.

These awards allow people not only to tell the story of overcoming scientific challenges but more than that, the story of trying to develop the field even in resource-constrained settings. Thank you APSR for the inclusivity and allowing us an opportunity to tell our story.

Deebya Raj Mishra