Recently, I have had the opportunity of availing of the services of a "multispecialty" and "superspeciality" hospital (the quoted terms are self-proclaimed in the hospital's own website) within the premises of Dehradun main city. The hospital is administered by a trust created in the name of a philanthropic organization. I got this honour partly because of my own carefree nature–not going for a stitch in time during the last one-and-a-quarter year–because of which I had to undergo a minor surgery. This meant for me a stay for a period of four days at the hospital. During this time, I have had a few bitter as well as a few sweet experiences. An empty mind is mostly referred to as a devil's workshop. I, therefore, utilized my spare moments to ponder over some issues that are present in our society—malaise that the increasingly affluent middle-class many-a-time comfortably chooses to overlook, which leads to a plight of the lower strata of our society. For the efficiency that I perceived in a fraction of the staff, I acknowledged the hospital administration as well as the staff, both to the management as well as personally to the staff members–and I do not wish to go into the details of that here. What I discuss here are issues that I believe should not plague a good institution as well as our society.
On the very first day that I was admitted to the hospital, I experienced the seemingly ever-present rationing mechanism in the Indian society wherever there is more demand and less supply (using terms from economics) for a good/service—the mechanism of queues. A well-behaved person patiently waits for his/her turn. What caused a concern to me was that the cashiers at the counter took no heed to urge the people who tried to break queues (due to, perhaps, feeling an elevated sense of self-importance) to be in the queue and not break the protocol. Nevertheless, the other people in the queue were proactive in claiming what was rightfully theirs, and didn't allow the perpetrators to get their work done earlier than their turn permitted them. And that gave me a sense of satisfaction.
Next, some tests had to be administered to me. When I was taken to the X-Ray reception, which was being manned by third year MBBS students from the medical college run by this very trust, I experienced inordinate delays in getting my test done. I would have understood if this delay had been due to some emergency patient being given preference over me. However, what was disheartening was that it took almost half-an-hour for my nearly 5-minute test to be conducted and I was made to wait all this while, during which the X-Ray room was mostly unoccupied with the equipment working soundly. I got this feeling when one of the students at the reception told the other—"jaa kar de naa, chest ka X-Ray hi toh hai" (go and conduct the trivial chest X-Ray). Furthermore, when I had been repeatedly asking for my test to be done, I got to know that my test-conduction application-form was misplaced somewhere. And this didn't happen only to me. I got to know that some of these things happened with the other patients–who were waiting beside me–as well. The comparatively unskilled staff (ward attendants) were far more efficient, by many notches, than these students. When I told my attendant (who was just a twelfth-standard pass-out) about this, he said to me that if these attendants raised concerns about such issues, they were either chided or had to forfeit their jobs. Such is the condition of whistleblowers! This brought another irony of economics to my mind. According to N. Gregory Mankiw (a prominent American economist), if for some reason the wages are set above the equilibrium (of supply and demand) level there is a surplus of labour. Thus, the very cause that is intended to bring welfare to the workers brings distress to some of them. The employers get a better bargaining power over the employees and can remove the lower-level staff for misperceived follies.
Four days prior to my getting admitted to that hospital, I had experienced these unusual delays at the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) reception as well. To collect my reports, I was told (and I quote) that I'll "have to wait for two hours, and if the report doesn't come still, then ...!" This ellipsis denotes an abrupt end to the receptionist's sentence. So much was the value being accorded to the patients' time! When I raised an alarm with the MRI staff, I got my report within an hour, only to be called back to the hospital the next day for getting a reprint of a "magnified-view" of the MRI sheets–which was apparently required for an effective surgical procedure. I raised all these concerns with the Public Relations Officer of the hospital on the day I got admitted to the hospital. I was assured of an action to be taken shortly, if I gave a written complaint addressed to the medical superintendent (which I duly did). What makes me think is that if this is the treatment meted out to patients, then the people who are illiterate would have been made to run from pillar to post to get their work done in the hospital. And these people have no recourse against such discrepancies due to their illiteracy/lack of knowledge.
The next surprise, which awaited me, was that there was no provision of food being provided to the patients in their wards. The ironic thing was that the walls displayed rate-lists of food items, which were actually procurable only from the canteen in the hospital premises. However, patients had to walk themselves/send their relatives to go to this canteen. This left a huge lacuna for the patients admitted in the general wards, if they happened to have no relative accompanying them. For the people staying in private wards (and hence paying much more for their stay), they could informally tie-up with the attendants to procure food for themselves. I was under the impression that the Indian polity strives to implement Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar's visions of social and economic justice!
A comforting thing was that the surgery was conducted in a very professional manner and for that, I expressed my gratitude to the management. However, on the night of the day on which my surgery was conducted, I couldn't sleep for almost half of the night—all thanks to the jaagar (all-night devotional songs) going on in the temple just outside the hospital premises and being spewed out in all directions by a loudspeaker. Apparently, the filmy-tuned bhajans (devotional songs) were being sung on the evening of Ram Navami to appease some gods/goddesses, while bringing distress to the patients who might have been in a critical condition (such as heart patients) in the hospital. In the morning, when I asked the nurse (who had been on night duty) what her views were regarding the issue, she supported my views. The Hindu chauvinists point towards the degradation of cultural values and talk about westernization badly-affecting the Indian culture/ethics when youngsters dance on disk jockey music (to which I am equally averse, but only if that is done in a residential area at odd hours, as it creates noise pollution). However, I haven't heard any criticism about the nuisance due to loudspeaker-based activities (even if religious) at night—which is also banned by law, if I am correct. Was Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (a German thinker) correct when he said—"God is dead"?
One evening, I witnessed a man (who seemed to be an educated middle-class fellow, if I were to judge him by his attire) dragging a vehicle-parking attendant by his collar—for (apparently) some indecent words that the attendant had used. I somehow couldn't convince myself on the right to assault, which was being exercised by this middle-class educated man on another socio-economically lower-ranked fellow, even if the other fellow was at fault. If my comprehension skills are sound enough, the Fundamental Duty in the Article 51A(e) of the Constitution of India states that "it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India...transcending sectional diversities..."
Lastly, I expressed my gratification personally to the nursing staff by distributing some chocolates. But what disheartened me (I got to know about it later) was that the nursing staff didn't share them with the safai-wallas (the cleaners), who had been cleaning my room (and ensuring that the floor shone almost like a mirror) from day one. I do not think that I should have told the nursing staff explicitly about sharing the sweets with the cleaners. The Constitution of India is based on the ideals of Fabian Socialism interspersed with Ambedkar's ideas of socio-economic justice through liberty, equality and fraternity. I believe that an institutional hierarchy needs to be slightly altered, in atleast the humane aspects, if we are to achieve the aforementioned goals. It has already been 64 years since India has adopted these goals.
Being a citizen of the country lays a certain amount of responsibility on my shoulders. If my article is able to make a difference to the status quo for the better, I would consider that the investment made by my parents on my education has, after all, paid some dividends. I, on my part, am an agnostic. But I strive to bring improvement to my home city and my home state—the so-called devbhoomi (abode of Gods)—as it is said that "Janani Janmabhoomishch, Swargadapi Gariyasi" (mother and motherland are greater than heaven).
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