The moment we think of hospital, we visualize a red plus, a white coat and an ambulance siren. Being one among the 1.2 billion mango people ( aam Aadmi), I too used to visualize the same things, until I actually became the part of it and realized that Hospital is much more than what you, me or other commoners think of…!!
Being in the hospital environment since last 5 years, I have come across many things- Some visible to the eyes, some hidden; some live incidents, some my interpretations; some happy, some ‘not so happy’ moments. I am sure readers belonging to this stream will be able to associate themselves to the events and instances which I have observed. So, presenting Hospital journey through my eyes…
Hospital is not only about patients standing in long OPD ( Out Patients Department) queues, with drizzling noses, during monsoons…….It is also about the sleepless nights a mother spends when her 2 yrs old son coughs and sneezes ten times every half an hour and the mother gives him the syrup and says- Everything will be fine beta..! I am there..!!
Hospital is not only about panicked friends, rushing to the Accident and Emergency Centre, with bleeding wounds and a fractured leg………. It is also about the joy the patient and the therapist experience, when the patient walks for the first time, without anybody’s help, after receiving rigorous Physiotherapy for weeks…!!
Hospital is not only about doctors, walking in sophisticated suits in the wards and assuring their patients- Sab theek ho jayega!!.......It is also about a middle aged Cleaner, who keeps worrying about her young daughter’s future, studying in BA final yr, as she mops the hospital corridor..!!
Hospital is not only about the tired, sleepless interns, who are returning to their hostels after the night shifts, with dreams of getting a MD/MS ( Masters) seat in the forthcoming Entrance exam…..It is also about the security guard, sitting on the footpath near the hospital, eating Britannia Good Day Butter Biscuits, staring at the Interns and thinking- One day, my daughter will also become a doctor..!!
Hospital is not only about a ‘Happy and Complete Family’, going back home after getting discharged, carrying their ‘Bundle of Joy’ in their arms……..It is also about the feeling of being on Cloud Nine, which a couple experiences, as they walk out of the Diagnostic Lab, holding hands, looking ‘only and only’ at each other’s smiling and happy faces, carrying a Positive Pregnancy Report in their hands……!!!
Hospital is not only about the EXTRA care and services which some VIP patients receive ( some of which are ‘not at all’ needed)……..It is also about the helplessness of below poverty line patients, who find it difficult to buy the life saving medicines….!!!
Hospital is not only about the sophisticated treatments and equipments which the doctors read about in books written by foreign authors…. It is also about a doctor who has come up with low cost Bamboo stick crutches and other devices, which are as effective and patient friendly as their imported counterparts; enabling the child to go and enjoy the football match, which he always saw, sitting on the stands…
Hospital is not only about the doctors operating on a patient in the OT, who is struggling between life and death……It is also about the anxious relatives who are waiting outside the OT, praying to God for a miracle, with immense hope and faith…!!
Hospital is not only about an 85 yr old, neurologically disoriented grandpa, trying his best to sit on the bed, comprehend, talk and move around, with his doctor’s help…..It is also about the smiles on a 25 yr old guy’s face (permanently paralyzed below the waist after a spinal cord injury) which keep him motivated throughout the treatment sessions…!!
Hospital is not only about the new born baby which does not even know that it is not going to be a normal kid just because it did not cry soon after birth ( Baby’s Crying expands the lungs and ensures a good oxygen supply to the brain. If it does not cry, it means that the brain is not receiving oxygen, also known as Birth Asphyxia, resulting in serious complications like cerebral palsy, developmental delay etc. ) ..It is also about the persistent patience the parents have, who never miss the child’s therapy sessions and are ready to go to any extremes, to make the child’s life as normal as possible…!!!
Hospital is not only about the meager salary which some doctors are paid in multi specialty hospitals, in spite of slogging the entire day… It is also about the joy which the doctor experiences when a certain patient says- Thank you doctor..!!! I am glad that I met you.!! My pain is all vanished..!!
Hospital is not only about the mourning relatives and friends, crying for the one who is not there with them…….It is also about the desire of a terminally ill patient, who keeps staring at the ticking clock and outside the window in his Isolation Ward, wishing to see another sunrise..!!!
Hospital is not only about the ward beds, the stretchers, the wheelchairs, surgical tools and equipments, needles, syringes, healing wounds and the sutures, dressing over bleeding bruises, advanced operative and treatment techniques, IV saline bottles, thermometers…….. It is also about the light outside the OT, the innumerous number of crushed coffee cups lying in the bin near the coffee shop outside the OT corridor; speaking stories of anxious relatives, healing words of assurance spoken by the doctor, which multiply the effect of the medicines….It is also about FAITH….!!!
Sadly, Hospital is also about the blunders committed by some quacks, claiming to be doctors, who render the patient crippled for life…!!!
Hospital is not only about the doctors, nurses, patients, their families and friends….It is also about the cleaners, pharmacy shop employees, ambulance drivers, security guards, the aayas who handle the bedpans, housekeeping staff who shift the patients and all those people the people contributing in some or the other way in bringing a positive change in the patient’s life…!!!
Let us try to maintain the dignity of this profession…Let the Noble profession remain NOBLE forever..!!!
