A consultant from London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust’s (LNWH) Ealing Hospital who works in Infectious Diseases and Acute Medicine has won an international essay prize highlighting the experience of patients with tuberculosis in London.
Dr Padmasayee Papineni won the annual Wakley Prize for her essay about the work of outreach support worker Ahmed Yassin who visits patients to encourage them to take their TB medication as well as highlighting the support the TB team.
The prize, which is worth £2,000, is organised by The Lancet, one of the most prestigious medical publications in the world. The theme of this year’s Wakley Prize was compassion and connection in medicine.
Dr Papineni said: “I was motivated to write this essay highlighting our patients’ experiences to illustrate the deepening health inequalities that have resulted from political failures, despite living in one of the richest economies globally.”
She added: “I am often struck by holistic acts of kindness that my colleagues show to patients providing strength and encouragement for overcoming the challenge of tuberculosis illness and treatment.”
You can read Dr Papineni’s essay here.