Wo to abhi bachha hai

The annoying experience at the hospital

        This was a hell bit of experience for me. Perhaps this incident was the one which inspired/persuaded me to write my experiences of insensitivity. This is a 6 months old incidence.

My brother was feeling ill, with temperature, flu, headache and all sorts of seasonal problems, also backache and pain in limbs, there were signs of dengue or chickengunia. The pain was so intense that he was neither able to sit upright nor walk. I took an appointment of a renowned doctor in a renowned hospital and went up there. As we moved in, we found the hospital to be overcrowded like a market place. Almost every doctor had a waiting of 20-25 patients. I seated my brother at one of the waiting areas and reported at the reception. The receptionist gave us the number 4 , I was happy that atleast my brother won’t have to wait for long and won’t have to undergo the pain for a long duration. After waiting for about 40 minutes, our turn came and we went in. the doctor diagnosed the disease and prescribed some tests and medicines. When we told him about the backache and spasm, he referred us to an orthopaedic doctor next door as he himself was a general physician. Coming out of the chamber I again pushed my brother to the waiting area and went up to the reception for an appointment of the orthopaedist. At first she was reluctant, and then on being called by the general physician, she gave me the appointment. I got the number 22. I glanced at the display screen above the chamber, it was blinking a modest 8, that meant we had to wait for other 13 patients to finish their meet before we can move in which would have accounted for almost 1.5- 2 hours. Accounting the pain with which my brother was going through, I didn’t want him to suffer that much. I requested the receptionist, ward boy for an early appointment but they relented. So we had no option but to wait. We waited for around 20 minutes, and then my brother fell almost unconscious. I bought some water for him and sprinkled on him, a ward boy came running and supported him (the ward boy was a sensitive one). I gain went up to the receptionist almost shouting at her and asking for a pre-appointment by explaining her current situation. She obliged but with a condition, if I can convince other patients before me, I can have a go. I went up and asked the fellow patients, everyone understood the problem and were happy to help except one annoying fellow. This guy was well dressed, with branded clothes, flaunting his gold chain, about every finger had a gold ring, a lavish phone flipped in his palm. He looked as if he was a small time politician or a builder. He asked me for my appointment number, which I told him was 22. He replied as his was 19, he can’t let me go in before him and he also tried to convince others to let me go in. I tried to explain the situation in which my brother was. He dismissed my excuse as lame and that everyone over here are undergoing the pain. I asked him what illness he had. He replied that his wife had a broken finger, and as it was cured he had come to show the reports to the doctor. I took a glance towards his wife who was looking hale and hearty and was smiling. I pleaded with the guy, that look at my brother, he is almost unconscious, please let us go in but the man didn’t comply. Then I went up to the previous doctor, the general physician, and he personally moderated and took my brother to the orthopaedist. At last my brother was treated well by the doctor and gave him a dose of painkiller injection which relieved him a lot and he felt well.

Now this brings us to the questionnaire……………….

The question over here is not of the treatment but whether as a human, have we become so insensitive that we cannot provide leverage to a deserving patient a treatment?

What would have happened if my brother was not able to sustain the pain?

If he would have to be hospitalised just because of a delay in treatment?

Whom do we have to blame?

Is the guy not an insensitive Indian?