Friday, December 6, 2013

PLACE OF CARE ?? OR PLACE OF DISPAIR!!

I am from a middle class family like any of you sitting out there living in south india (chennai to be more precise). I have a family who works hard everyday to support each other  we, like all of u never have time to look around or speak up or decide to change the world after the  bad experience with it ..  we also Just ignore and live with it (Thts the motto of most of the people here right??),My  ailing grandmother who lives with us  fell down in the middle of the night and got a fracture. We have enough money to go to a private hospital but instead opted for Royepettah  government hospital for the only reason that the doctors are more experienced .. despite being wary of the place and its hygiene ..we decided to go ahead with it after a some thought as she needed immediate attention . People say the money we pay never really goes to the right hands or for the benefit of the people .. I refused to accept that completely thinking that could be absurd , now people are not that bad right??People can be corrupt but brutal reality struck me when I reached this place .From first glance I decided this was probably the worst place anyone could go to get medical attention unless they want to make themselves more sick that is, but miraculously hundreds of people enter this place and leave well .. I don’t know if it’s the great immunity that people have developed over the time living in this filth or the miraculous power of GOD that they are still alive.I don’t want to exaggerate and I know there are extreme unsanitary conditions exisiting all of the world but this was the place that opened eyes to the world that existed parallel to me but I never cared less to notice .My dad got the patti registered in the hospital quickly  and showed the doctor the xray that was taken the day before(portable xray systems in INDIA wow i never knew we had them !!) ..The doctor confirmed it was a fracture at the hip and we need to perform surgery but due to age there needs to be certain tests that need to be done to find out if she is fit for it ,he also told she needs to get a cast at the foot so she doesn’t move it more.The nurse took her away and asked my dad to get 2 full size “wooden scales”.. yes they were doing to be part of the cast!!This is the most crude cast I have ever heard. Then they take her to the B “Speciality” ward .The name suggests something that could be marvelously clean in this trash can of a place.. based on the hype given by my aunt and the name of it .. I expected this to be a decent place but to my disappointment it turned out to be a room like those found in the old movies where u have a rickety bed a frail ailing woman with a cast on her foot  lying on the bed like she hasn’t been fed for days .A bathroom that is tucked behind with everything from the tap to the toilet broken. A small antespace in front of the bathroom which has a washbasin.. a pool of water with muddy footprints all over the place.Ahhh for god sake is this even a hospital .. am I letting my grandmother stay in this place which has zero hygiene .. extremely unsanitary conditions and absolutely not one person who gives a dam about it. If we go around ask people to help us clean they say there is no one to help .They ask us to keep the room door shut because the mosquitoes in the place might kill the patient !!! I leave the place disheartened not knowing what to do . Writing this made me feel better but what about the millions who get treated there ?? 

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