Dr. Chet Mahida and Dr. Upinder Basi are an internal medicine practice team. If you aren’t sure what an Internal Medical Doctor is, the best way to explain is it they have the ability to do everything that a family or general practice doctor does, but they only treat adults age 18 and older. They are specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of adults from regular health matters to complex illness. They may also be known as internists, need to be certified in internal medicine and must recertify every 10 years.

Dr. Mahida has been practicing internal medicine in Oakdale for 21 years. He grew up in a family of doctors and said he knew fairly early in life that he would become a doctor. Mahida did his training in New York and then moved to Oakdale. He originally planned to only stay in Oakdale for a few years, but eventually planted roots here. He raised his family here and his daughters graduated from Oakdale High School.

“Oakdale is a great community to raise a family and kids,” said Mahida.

He started his practice with Dr. Andres Arellano, who now has his own office next door to Mahida’s practice, and then hired Dr. Basi, who has been with him for almost five years. The business is still growing so the two plan to hire one more internal medicine doctor for their office.

Dr. Basi did her residency in Washington D.C. and moved to the Central Valley in 1998. She was at a medical group in Modesto for 10 years and then joined Mahida at his practice. She said she always wanted to be a doctor and finds helping the patients very rewarding. She also has a family that she takes care of when she is not working and does a lot of preventative care for patients and women’s health like mammograms.

“We do take care of complex medical problems for the adults in the office, but then we also specialize in taking care of patients in the hospital,” said Mahida.

What makes these particular internal medicine doctors different is that they would also see their patients in the ICU or general medical floor in the hospital.

This practice is the only one in Oakdale that they know of, that has a Dexa scan machine to check if a patient has osteoporosis. As people age, their bone health becomes an issue. The geriatric population that they serve is often prone to broken bones. In order to prevent the possibility and offer treatment options, they have their patients take a bone mineral density (BMD) or a Dexa Scan. This scan measures a patient’s bone health and how strong their bones are. Women are most likely to be at risk for osteoporosis and may not know that they have it. Osteoporosis is a disease that results in weakened bones.

“If we can prevent one fracture, we can do a big service to the patient,” said Mahida.

According to the doctor, there are preventative things that you can do to improve your bone health like, exercising, taking calcium, taking Vitamin D, and maintaining an active lifestyle.

“Exercises help to build the bones,” said Basi.

Their office takes pride in staying current with technology in the always-changing medical field. All patient records are also on the computer. Having electronic medical records has made it easier to keep track of a patient’s history and medications, according to the doctors.

“We are constantly looking for things that can improve the patient care,” stated Mahida.

The office is very active with the American Cancer Society and participates in the Relay For Life. On Fridays during football season, you may also see Mahida on the sidelines at a Mustang football game. He is one of their sideline physicians.

“Those things I really enjoy in a small community,” said Mahida.

The most rewarding thing, Mahida explained, was being able to make a difference in people’s lives.

Both doctors find it very important to educate the community and give them as much knowledge as possible to help prevent diseases, fractures, or sickness. Basi stated that she finds it important to make sure her patients know what medications they are taking and why they are taking certain medications. She also advises them to keep a list of the medications that they do keep with them.

“Once you teach them, then their compliance improves,” said Basi.

Mahida and Basi’s office accepts most insurance plans and is at 1425 W. H St., Suite 380 in Oakdale.

“Our group is just like a family,” Basi added.