Healing and Hospitals

What’s a hospital for? To make sick people get better. Duh? What are the ingredients that go into a good hospital? Generally speaking, it’s the skill of the doctors, especially the surgeons that are the most sought after. It’s the most skilful surgeon that you want operating on you – the best services that your money can buy.

And that’s why more than just a couple of eyebrows were raised when I decided to jettison one of the best surgeons in the business available in the city of Patna for a rather ‘foolish’ reason. He wasn’t going to operate on me at the hospital of my choice. It’s not that he was trying to get me to try out the services of the super-speciality hospitals, or at least the ones with the chrome-plated doors. He just wasn’t a consultant of the Holy Family Hospital at Kurji. And, after two weeks of soul searching, I opted for the hospital and not the doctor, much to the consternation of my more knowledgeable friends, who were of the opinion that the doctors there were—well -- not the very best.

Now, what do I want from a doctor? Apart from knowing his craft, he should have a pleasant manner, the ability to explain things clearly to me in lay-person’s terms, a frank assessment of the risks involved, and the willingness to answer all my questions. I discovered all of these in Dr Khalid, who did an excellent job. But with due respect to doctors, the success of the operation is only about ten percent of the real business of healing.

For me, Holy Family Hospital provides a blanket of comfort and security that I haven’t had in any other place, and I have been to a few! Every member of the staff: the orderlies, the bookkeepers, and the lab assistants speak to you in a way that puts you at ease. There is a pervasive sense of gentleness, and the purposeful gait of the professionals reassures you – it makes you feel wanted. You are not just another number in a long line of ‘jobs’ to be dealt with.

I am a loner. I check into the hospital on my own. I sign my own papers. I am not used to being seen as vulnerable, and so the less people that witness my incapacitation, the better. Of course, there are people who care about me who make it a point to let me know that they are there for me, but generally, I prefer the Spartan way.

Even so, I have never felt alone and helpless at KHFH. The morning of the operation. There was no ‘companion’ in my room to send me off. I was transferred to the stretcher and on my way to the OR. At the door, the staff nurse a feisty woman named Ragini Gurung, appeared. She held my hands and said a prayer over me, asking God’s blessings for my speedy recovery. As luck would have it another friend, a nun, appeared at the same time. The staff nurse accompanied me all the way to the OR, telling me that things would be all right. I was really touched by this gesture. I felt that I was not alone, that I was a person, not a ‘patient’.

The sunny dispositions of the kitchen staff who came along to serve the meals were most exhilarating. At the end of my stay, when I thought of offering the cleaning and serving staff a tip, they refused. Your happy face is reward enough, they said. One does not tip one’s family, I was justly rebuked.