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I was told by many after I
settled in Vellore
never to go to this “renowned” Christian Medical College (CMC) if you don’t
suffer from some life threatening condition. If you go there for treatment of
ordinary fever or cold they will treat you like a piece of shit. Other day I
went to CMC to give treatment for my daughter who was suffering from fever and
cold and that day happened to be the worst day after our return back to India.
Let me narrate what happened. Our
daughter was suffering from cold for the last fifteen days. In those fifteen days she had fever during
the first three days and the last four days. During the last four days, she
only had fever from 1:00 AM to 6:00 AM in the morning. She was eating well and
also playing well rest of the time. So on the four day morning around 5:00 AM
when she had a temperature of 100oF, we took our daughter to the
health center of our school that was at a walking distance from our home. The
doctor there told us that her blood needs to be tested and it would be better to
take her to CMC. He gave us a referral slip to CMC.
We came back home prepared milk
for our daughter and went to CMC. We reached their by around 7:30 AM. By that
time fever had subsided and our daughter was OK. We went to the pediatric casualty
and they told us that since it is not an emergency you need to see the doctor
as an outpatient. Time was around 8:00 AM and we grabbed some breakfast and
stood in the line to take an appointment to meet the doctor. By the time we
reached to the front of the queue it was 10:30 AM!
Me: I want a private appointment
with a pediatrician for my daughter (there is both private and general
appointment).
Cashier: There is no private
appointment available for next five days
Me: We came here for blood test
and we cannot wait for five days.
Cashier: Then can I give general
appointment?
Me: Yes.
Now I paid him and he asked us to
go to the first floor. When I reached the first floor, the scene was nasty. It
was a 15x15 meter room and there were more than 500 adults and kids waiting in
that room. As I glanced through that room I could see kids with all kinds of
diseases, even contagious diseases like chicken pox sitting there. There were
only few chairs (may be a maximum of fifty) but all were occupied and even the
entire floor was occupied by kids and their parents. That room resembled a
platform of a typical railway station like Chennai.
I went to the security guard and
asked him what I should do next. He asked us to go and stand in a queue on the
extreme end of the room to get the token number to see the doctor. I went and
stood there while my wife and daughter stood on one side of the room. While I
was standing in the line I saw one kid puking on the floor dirtying the floor. No
one came to clean and other kids started playing over it and people started
walking over it for the next 10 minutes before someone came to clean it. It was
gross, I must say!
I stood in that queue from 10:45
AM and then my turn came at 11:30 AM. The man sitting in the counter saw my
receipt and told me that my “case book” has not come up and I should come back
by 12:15 PM very rudely. I tried to explain to him that it took me 45 minutes
in queue to reach here but he was not ready to listen.
Now I came out and went back to
the end of the queue again. This time it took me one hour in the queue for my
turn to come. Now I got my token number and it read “206”. The token number
being called was “122”. I went back to the security guard and asked if we can
go, have lunch and come back. He told that numbers are called at random and
“206” may be called within 1 minute or 1 hour. So we started waiting. After
around 45 minutes the screen on top of that room showed “206” and we went
inside to see the doctor.
That was a small room with a
table. On either side of the table two doctors where sitting and both were
treating patients separately. Our doctor was a young lady by name Christina (by
the way the nurses were making fun of her and from the scant respect she was
getting from duty nurses I am not sure if she was an MBBS student doing her
final year house surgency or a qualified doctor). The conversation that
happened between the doctor and us:
Wife: My daughter is not well for
15 daysEven without slight hesitation
and without checking her
Doctor: It may be dengue fever.
Now every other child has it.
Wife: She has cold for 15 days
and not fever. We are here only to check her blood.
Doctor: (after checking her chest
and back using stethoscope) She should be kept here under observation for
couple of days.
Me: Doctor, we are here only for
blood test. She is perfectly normal.
Doctor: She is not well for 15
days. It may be dengue fever. We will start the first dose of medicine now. It
cannot be given orally. It has to be given through IV. Also, please give the
blood and urine right now to test.
Me: Doctor, can’t we wait till
the blood results are out to start the treatment?
Doctor: If we don’t start the
treatment now it may get aggravated.
Me: What antibiotics are you giving
and can’t we give it orally?
Doctor: I don’t have time to
answer all your queries. Lots of patients are waiting. Go to Room No. 8 and the
nurse will help you.
Doctor called the next patient
and we went to room no. 8. It was a 15x5 meter room with 15 odd beds. We waited
for about 30 minutes on the side before a nurse came to us and saw what the doctor
has written. She immediately asked us to go to one counter and pay for doing the
blood and urine test. Then she asked us to get the medicine and other accessories
required to give the antibiotics from the pharmacy.
Now my wife and daughter went to
pay the money and I went to pharmacy to buy medicines. There was close to 100
people in front of me in the queue at the pharmacy. Another long queue and another
long wait. Now while I was standing in the queue, I called my wife’s brother
who is a doctor and told him about the medicine. He was telling me that the
antibiotics the doctor prescribed was a third generation one which is powerful
that is usually given only after blood results are positive. I confirmed the
same with another doctor I knew. It took me two hours to get the medicine and
by the time I came back with it, it was 4:30 PM. My wife also just finished
paying for the blood and urine test.
By the time we reached back to
room no. 8, all three of us were exhausted as we hadn't taken our lunch. Now
the nurse comes and takes the needle to poke the fore arm of our daughter and
fix it there. She draws blood for various tests and then kept it closed to give
the dose of antibiotics the doctor had prescribed. Our daughter was crying
continuously as this was the first time someone was poking a needle into her
fore-arm.
Now the nurse takes out the
medicine from the packet I bought and to all our surprise the dosage given was
wrong. The doctor prescribed 450 mg and they gave us only 250 mg. The nurse
told me to go and get the correct dose. I got really angry and told her it is
not possible for me to go and wait there another two hours. We told the nurse
that we don’t want to give this medicine to our daughter before the results of
the blood test came and we want to talk to the doctor.
Nurse calls the doctor and she
comes to that room. Both of us were very upset and tired and we talked to the
doctor in a little harsh tone and loudly.
Wife: Tell us why you are giving these
antibiotics before the blood test results are out?
Dr Christina (C): Your daughter’s liver
and spleen are enlarged and so this medicine is required.
This is the first time she is
telling about the liver and spleen. Luckily for us one senior doctor there
overheard our conversation and came near us. That doctor came to us and started
a conversation with Christina
Senior Doctor (S): Which medicine
did you prescribe?
C: XXXX
S: What is the blood platelet
count?
C: We have just given the blood
for testing
S: Then why are you giving this
medicine to her now?
C: Madam, her liver and spleen are
slightly enlarged
S: Slight enlargement is so
common in kids at this age.
C: OK
S: Don’t give this medicine. If after
the blood test if there is a fluctuation in the platelet count then give her
this injection.
Now I asked the nurse to remove
the needle they poked into our daughter’s forearm as she was crying
continuously and has not eaten anything from morning. They told us that if the
blood results come positive they need to give injection through that needle and
left it on. The time then was 5:30 PM and we were told that the blood results
will come by 6:00 PM.
We started our wait. An incident
we saw while waiting made both of us lose all confidence in that doctor. One
small kid (may be two months old) was being treated in the room. Suddenly the
kid developed fits. The nurse rushes to Christina, who was treating our
daughter and asked her what to do to revive that kid. The doctor raised both
the hands and gave an expression “why are you asking me; what do I know?” After
that she took the phone called someone and then told nurse to give some
medicine. On the way back we could hear that the nurse was cursing the doctor
like anything.
By 6:15 PM the nurse told us that
blood samples reached the lab only now and results will be out by 6:45 PM. Our
daughter was still crying and has become extremely weak. She refused to eat
anything also. Around 7:00 PM my wife went and asked about the result. The
nurse coolly told her that the doctor left for her house and only that doctor
can see the result.
We were there for more than 12
hours now without having any food and now both of us lost our control. We
shouted at the nurses with full throat; the entire floor could hear us shout.
We demanded that our daughter be discharged immediately and the needle from her
hand be removed right now. Other doctors and nurses came there and we shouted
at them also. We came there to give the blood for testing and it was over 12
hours and they were taking us for a ride. Now the nurse removed the needle and
we came out of the hospital fully exhausted.
Next day all the blood results
came and everything was negative. God saved our daughter that day from the heavy
dose of antibiotics. The very next day we took our daughter to two
pediatricians in the town and both told us very specifically that there was no
enlargement of liver or the spleen!
Looking back, we spent over 12
hours in CMC; in that over 7 hours was wasted standing in various queues;
remaining sitting in those rooms crowded with people with not even a single
quality doctor around. Doctors were mostly students and the way they were
diagnosing the disease was so pathetic. So my advice, avoid CMC as far as
possible especially if you are suffering from health conditions that is not
life threatening. Otherwise you will repent later.
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