Aditi Maheshwari (Bhopal)

Dr. Krati Jain (25) has the unique distinction of becoming the first woman medical graduate of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Medical College, Indore (estb.1878) to win 13 gold medals for outstanding performance in the MBBS final exam. The medals and awards were conferred on her in mid-February this year at an in-person special convocation of the Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore, the parent affiliating university of MGM.

The elder of two children of Anil Jain, a businessman, and homemaker Seema, Krati is elated with the encomiums. “Even though the pandemic forced me to wait longer for the convocation ceremony, it was worth the wait. I attribute this achievement to sustained study discipline encouraged by parental and college support,” she says.

Inspired by the late Dr. Babita Singh, her class IX biology teacher at St. Mary’s Convent School, Ujjain, Krati realised early that medicine was her preferred career path. “I started preparing for NEET-UG in class XI. Among 7 lakh students who wrote the exam, I was ranked #162 nationally and #7 in Madhya Pradesh,” recalls this academic achiever, currently enrolled in a radiology postgraduate study programme at the city’s Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences (SAIMS).

Following a state government diktat directing deployment of final year medical undergrads, nurses and postgrads on Covid duty, Krati is currently serving at SAIMS’ red zone Covid centre. “As qualified doctors, we have a responsibility towards all our patients. But since the outbreak of the pandemic and subsequent shutdown of educational institutions countrywide, medical students have missed over a year of internship. Instead we have been allowed to treat critical Covid patients under supervision of experienced medical officers,” says this committed medico.

Krati has set her mind on mastering the skills of radiodiagnosis and studying its impact on medical practice. “I believe many more lives can be saved every year through accurate diagnosis and treatment. That is my life’s ambition,” says this dedicated young medico with her heart in the right place.