Medical Encounters is a book for common reading, especially for doctors and in particular pulmonary physicians. This book chronicles the stories of some of the patients seen by the author in his long medical career. Combined with vignettes from history, classical civilization, epics and mythology, it provides glimpses of lives of people during the periods of their illness. It does not relate specifically to one or the other illness. However the author, himself a pulmonologist of repute, largely picks up patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, interstitial lung disease, infections such as tuberculosis, and cancer. One finds stories such as ‘If a man's lungs pant with his work’ and ‘Marital woes’ beautifully describing problems with asthma. On the other hand, ‘Pickwick Papers’ and ‘Corporate Honchos’ describe problems with sleep apnea syndrome. The author also touches upon lives of terminally ill patients and those with progressive disorders.
The author's narration of doctor-patient dialogue, and a peep into their socio-economic background, gives a rare insight into various medical issues faced by doctors in day-to-day medical practice. Dr. Jindal's pen-portraits cover a wide range of people from common men to the VIPs including Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers, Governors, Judges and other highly placed officials. It also includes his version of the story of Shri Jaya Prakash Narain, popularly known as JP, who remained at his Institute as a ‘prisoner’ in 1975 during the period of Emergency.
The book reads like a novel. Its tales are short and written in a simple language. They are not only enjoyable to read, but also likely to help the students and the novices in handling patients of different categories.