{"id":2097,"date":"2013-01-11T08:24:26","date_gmt":"2013-01-11T08:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2013\/01\/11\/mona-babajee-3\/"},"modified":"2019-05-27T11:30:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-27T07:30:34","slug":"mona-babajee-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/mona-babajee-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Give roses when it\u2019s due"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mona Babajee<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

On the Sunday before Xmas 2012, I had severe pain in the left side of my abdomen, which has been going on since a year and all along I\u2019ve been stuffing my face with fennel seeds. As the pain became unbearable, I informed my sons and their answer was to book myself in a clinic. You kidding, I said, why do we have hospitals for and is that brand new building a showcase, you think. <\/span><\/p>\n

So I asked my good friend and neighbour to accompany me to Dr Jeetoo Hospital as the slippery tiles leading to casualty and other departments on the ground floor scare the living day lights out of me. Because of my wobbly legs I never venture there unaccompanied and I don\u2019t know if there has been any incident so far. And neither do we know whose clever idea it was to put such flooring in a hospital of all places. It looks nice alright but it won\u2019t be that nice if you are going to slip and end up with a fractured femur, especially the elderly. <\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway wherever I went, be it for X-rays or the loo, I held onto my friend\u2019s arm as if my life depended on it. One look at my x-rays, the medical officer said \u2018I think you may have an infection and will need antibiotics. \u2018Don\u2019t give me just any antibiotics as I am resistant to quite a few,\u2019 I said. \u2018Look at my foot, a few years ago, my son had to ask for my discharge, took me to a clinic where I spent a lot of money. Then I had to buy several injections of Meropenem at Rs 2,000 each and all the paraphernalia to set the infusions up, then pay a nurse to come at home plus buy more antibiotics tablets. Also do you know how many letters I\u2019ve sent to a newspaper; it\u2019s a disgrace for the doctor and the hospital I ended.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

After listening to my ranting, Dr Laval (I had to ask for this name) said, \u201cDon\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll take good care of you this time.\u2019 That set me laughing so much that my inside hurt even more. Finally, I was admitted to Ward 1.4 and my friend left and went home not before promising that she will visit on Tuesday. Early Xmas morning, another neighbour visited and said your friend is in the ward just behind you. But what is she doing there? Apparently on Monday, her better half fancied some chutney, so she climbed on an old rickety iron table, as is her wont, to pick some mangoes\u2026 She fell on her left side, injured her kneecap and sustained a hairline fracture of the tibia. I think, she\u2019s had her operation and is now at home with a huge plaster of Paris on that leg. She\u2019s got a Zimmer frame to help her walk and it\u2019s not at all easy. She can\u2019t even stand let alone walk. It\u2019s she who will hold onto me. Looks as if we went to hospital to invite trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I spent Xmas there, of course there was no roast turkey and Christmas pudding but we had chicken briyani and the pud that was at home, I had it for New Year. I have no complaints, the ward is nice and clean, the bed comfortable and devoid of squatters, meaning bed bugs unlike in the old wards. And the food was quite good health-wise and the nurses were fine. I don\u2019t usually eat egg plant, pumpkin, cabbage, vo\u00ebme, gourd and even less the bitter variety (margoze) but I found myself eating whatever was offered, well with a pinch of salt added for good measure certainly. Sister Mohengooa would usually come to your bed with the food trolley, take your plate and fill it up. This is commendable, I thought. \u2018You carry out your duties well and you show a lot of patience,\u2019 I told her. <\/span><\/p>\n

One thing is making me go bananas though. Why is a diabetic not allowed a small banana for breakfast? It has potassium, vitamins, is easily digested, encourages peristalsis in the bowels, good against stomach ulcers and is cheap. Is its sugar content much more than that of an orange or apple which is given for dessert everyday? And will a thin slice of cheese make the blood pressure of a hypertensive go sky high? Please give patients that banana and cheese and let them enjoy their breakfast. They are not asking for baked beans, fried eggs and sausages. At 5.30 am the tea is usually hot and nice but at 9 am, due to workload I suppose, it\u2019s lukewarm and at 2.30 pm also. <\/span><\/p>\n

I was given a lot of pain relief without having to ask for it. Two young doctors came to see me on Monday and I didn\u2019t know who they were and on Boxing Day the 26th<\/sup>, they came again. One discharged me after offering some advice and prescribed more analgesics. \u2018What\u2019s your name,\u2019 I asked. \u2018Kho\u2026,\u2019 he replied. \u2018Are you a registrar?\u2019 I asked again when he was leaving, knowing too well no doctor was going to introduce himself to a patient. Expecting that, is like asking not just for the moon but the stars also. It\u2019s their loss not mine. Being stupid as always, I was expecting someone with grey hair.<\/span><\/p>\n

A patient has a right to know who is probing her from left, right and centre, be it in an Accident and Emergency Department and anywhere in a hospital for that matter. It\u2019s plain and simple bedside manners. This is 2013, not the dark ages. I still have pain but it\u2019s something I will have to live with. Just one of those things.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, thank heavens for this new generation of doctors, who I hope will lend a better ear to patients\u2019 sufferings and not dismiss them as if they were mosquitoes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 12 January 2013<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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