In the name of science, a courageous doctor performed an endoscopy on himself.
An endoscopy is a scary and uncomfortable medical diagnostic procedure which involves inserting a camera into the patient's body through their mouth. A screen shows where the camera is going and the practitioner controls the tube from outside via a remote.
Shocking footage of Dr Nitin Joshi from India showed him entering a tube into his mouth as he gagged multiple times. The thin, black tube went down his throat, to his food pipe and then his stomach.
The live-stream in the video showed that the flexible visited the oesophagus as well. Joshi's eyes watered up at one point and a fellow medic was seen wiping the tears away.
The metre, which is at least a metre long, also got pulled out by him. He gagged even more during the retrieval.
The old clip has resurfaced on social media and gone viral after someone posted it on Twitter.
Reportedly, Joshi wanted to prove that endoscopy did not require any sedation. For now, doctors inject sedatives to relax patients before the procedure.
A common type of endoscopy is colonoscopy where the tube is entered through the rectum to examine the bowels. Another is gastroscopy where the tube is put down the oesophagus to study the upper part of the digestive system.
The video was recorded four years ago at the Galaxy Hospital in Nanded.
Joshi, who has over 2,400 subscribers on YouTube posted the video there and wrote in the caption: "This is probably for the first time in India that a self-assessment upper GI endoscopy (OGD) has been performed by a gastroenterologist on himself."
"The aim of this experiment and experience was to assess the pain and suffering of patients who undergo endoscopy without sedation or short GA," the doctor further explained.
"Secondly, to improve upon the skills and manoeuvring of the endoscope during the procedure."
A gastroenterologist in Cornwall, Dr Keith Siau published the video on Twitter. Social media users expressed disgust and shock over the video.