I would like to express my gratitude to ISKSAA, Dr. Pushpinder Bajaj, Dr Lalit Maini, and Dr Kapil Kumar, for considering me for ISKSAA- Aberdeen Short-term fellowship. It was a pleasurable, knowledgeable, and refreshing experience to be a part of the wonderful team of the Upper limb unit in Woodend Hospital, Aberdeen.

I had the opportunity to visit Woodend Hospital from 2nd Oct 2023 to 14th Oct 2023. During this time Dr. Kapil Kumar, being a great mentor and a gem of a person that he is, helped me a lot to acclimatize and get oriented with the hospital and the place and quite literally walked me through all his surgeries and cases in his clinics.

On my first day Dr Kumar, made me feel one amongst them and guided me through the hospital. During OT days I had the pleasure of meeting dedicated orthopedic surgeons of other sub-specialties as well. It was overwhelming to watch the masters in action, especially Dr Kumar, who is a meticulous and brilliant shoulder surgeon. I got to see a spectrum of upper limb surgeries including arthroscopic cuff repairs, shoulder stabilization surgeries, AC joint decompression, reverse shoulder arthroplasty, ligament reconstructions of the elbow, and 1st CMC joint OA. Dr Kapil encouraged me to attend other surgeries in adjacent theatres whenever possible.

Apart from OTs, I could also attend MDT, OPD clinics, and post-operative rounds. Each of them, clinics in particular was as knowledgeable as it could be. Dr. Kapil was courteous enough to discuss each case with me and explain the proceedings. Also, I was fortunate enough to be there during the Scotland Shoulder Conclave, which is an annual event attended by prominent shoulder surgeons in the UK. Learning from them was the icing on the cake. It was overwhelming to see everyone, including the long-term fellows in Woodend be so welcoming and helpful.

Aberdeen, and Scotland as a whole is a beautiful place. During the time I visited, Aberdeen was at the end of a picturesque autumn. Although the weather played its tricks now and then, it was nice to experience a bit of chill, a bit of rain, and a bit of sunny days as well, making my visit to Scotland a memorable one.

In closing, my sincerest thanks to Dr. Kapil Kumar for all the painstaking effort he took to make my fellowship fruitful and truly memorable.

I would strongly recommend this fellowship to enthusiastic orthopeadic surgeons interested in upper limb surgeries. I would suggest them that it would be better to make arrangements for accommodation in advance, as it could be quite expensive. Also I request ISKSAA and Dr Kapil to continue this program and also it would be nice if the program is for 1 month.