I started off by prepping my CV and finding out all the documentations I needed in order to apply to this hospital. Since my relatives live in India and know some people that are working in the hospital, it was easier for me to send in my application. I needed to also write a cover letter to the CEO explaining the reason why I want to join for an internship. 

After I got the email which stated that I got the internship, I started booking my tickets to go to India.

Firstly, I booked my tickets to go to India and arrived there. The next day, I went for an interview with the CEO of Ruby Hall Clinic, Mr Behram Khodaiji. During our interview, he asked me questions like "Why do you want to get an internship here" and got some insight as to why I want to join for a month. 

After my meeting with the CEO, I needed to attend another interview with the Director of the Laboratory, Anjali Kelkar. She asked me similar questions and told me my timings to come to work and informed me about the different sectors I would be working in. 

First, I was placed in the Haematology lab for 2 days. Most of the concepts they were teaching in that lab were quite complex since I have not learned about them, but I managed to catch on quickly. My supervisors showed me how to perform the experiments to see the haemoglobin levels in a patient, to see the WBC count and how to stain the slides to look underneath the microscope. 

Next, I was put in the Phlebotomy lab. In this lab, I had to watch the process of extracting blood and the registration process. I also was asked to send the samples to the lab for testing and learned how to identify the different tests that patients wanted. 

Following the Phlebotomy lab, I was assigned to the Clinical Pathology lab for 3 days. In this lab, I got to view how the technicians perform urine tests to see if there were any abnormalities with the samples that have been received from the  lab. 

After the Clinical Pathology lab, I was placed in the Microbiology lab. I learned a lot of skills in this lab as most of the work is manual as compared to the other sections where the work is done by machines.  In this lab, I focused mainly on staining the agar plates with samples and placing those plates in the incubator, and observing them. 

During my final week, I worked in the Histopathology lab. In this lab, I learned how to make paraffin blocks from the tissue sample that is dissected by the technichians, and also learned the process of cytology. 

During this one month period, I learned a lot of different skills by working in a hospital. I learned that there is a long process for data and observed how the receptionist enters the data and how the technicians use the data and perform all the needed tests. 

During this time, I discovered that maybe working in a hospital was not meant for me since I could not really handle it. 

With this CAS project, I realised that lab technicians worked 24/7 and have a lot of pressure on them as if their work is not done properly, the patients that get this report need to deal with the consequences.