“I hope the new emergency block will be utilized to the maximum extent for the upliftment of public health. The new block has been built at the cost of 87 crores. It is not just a betterment of the services offered by the hospital but also an architectural land mark. Glassware imported from abroad has been generously used to give the hospital an international look…” spoke the superintendent of a certain hospital, on the occasion of the inauguration of the new emergency block. This was more than a year ago.
If one were to walk the corridors of the hospital, one would wonder if there was a war that happened in the past few months.
A few days ago, at about seven in the evening, a man rushed into the ER carrying a frail looking man in his arms. He dropped him on the table and went outside to register the patient’s name in the computer (yes we have a computerized records section)
There was one more person who told that the sick man had thrown convulsions and collapsed. On examination, the patient was found to be dead. So the death was declared. When the man who had gone to register, came back, he was furious. He shouted allegations at the doctors for not being able to save the patient and went to the extent of threatening to kill the one who had declared the death. When he got no reaction from the people around, in full filmy ishtyle, he tore the hospital registration card and threw it on the floor. He then stormed out of the building and crash…he smashed the glass doors at the entrance.
This is not a singular episode. The war scene appearance of the emergency block is because of many such episodes. Every glass pane which is broken has a story to tell. Like this one…
A middle aged man suffered a stroke one morning. He was taken to a local nursing home from where he was taken to NIMHANS. NIMHANS did the necessary investigations (CT and stuff) wrote the treatment and promptly referred the patient to our hospital. The patient was severely anaemic. Plus he was hypertensive and not conscious. The patient was admitted and all the necessary feeding tubes and catheter were inserted and treatment started. His son, a great alcoholic brain has fed the patient with coffee and some eatables through mouth when there is a nasogastric tube in situ just for that purpose. The result - the man aspirated and choked and died. The doctor told the son the reason for death. In full feeling, he tugged at the swivel door, that it just sung out rapidly and the glass broke. If that wasn’t enough, he tried fixing the door back by banging it so hard that it just came out of the frame. Till this day the door with broken glass stands beside the entrance to the ward waiting to be fixed.
There are more instances. A rowdy, died on the operating table. He had been brutally stabbed. He died when efforts were being made to revive him. In anger, friends from his gang came around and smashed every glass window they could set their eyes on.
Another patient who had acute psychosis, couldn’t be handled by four ward boys and four able bodied family members; he went ahead and smashed all the remaining glass windows at the entrance.
If the glass panes have suffered so much, consider the kind the risk conditions one is forced to work in.
Many times doctors have been assaulted for no wrong of theirs.
So, if one of these days you don’t hear from the Stygian Sailor, pray for him. The last will and testament will be published posthumously.
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Listening to: Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
via FoxyTunes
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