Hippocratic Oath

Acting upon the invitation from my very good friend I visited her college recently. My friend is among the very few privileged people who get the opportunity to study in the esteemed Calcutta Medical College. The Medical College as it is popularly known is an architectural landmark from the British era. It was set up in the year 1835 with the aim of training the native youths in the fields of medicine and surgery. At first glance, while entering through the Ophthalmology department gate the buildings did not seem extraordinary. Some of the places were downright dirty and poorly maintained. My friend offered to show me the library. A wide staircase led to the door to the library. The library was not extraordinary to look at but I was informed that it boasts a pretty good collection of medical books.

On my insistence I was shown a few wards (pediatrics, gynecology and surgery). The pediatric ward is a nightmare for those who are ill-fated to have their children treated there. Right on entering the building you see walls sprayed with red betel juice and relatives of patients who are camping on the corridors with mats splayed out. In the toilet right next to the ward discarded food lies in a heap and the stench can be detected from quite a distance. I have heard or read about the crumbling infrastructure of the public health sector but to bear witness is a different experience altogether. The few beds that are there in the ward each have four inhabitants. Two mothers with their respective children lay horizontally, each trying to make best of the available space. Contrary to pediatrics, the surgery ward was very clean, well ventilated and well lit. The only eyesore would be the clothes hanged to dry on a wire in the corridor. On enquiring about the anomaly my friend explained that the departments mirror the efficiency of the heads. The Group D staff (doing the menial jobs) are the most difficult to control due to their proximity to political parties and are usually affiliated with the union of the college. Efficiency implies exacting the full co-operation of these group D employees with minimum friction. The campus speaks of a crumbling infrastructure which cannot be rectified by surprise visits of the CM alone. The only jewel in this age old stone would be the Out Patients Department which is equipped with modern facilities.

Mamata Banerjee is taking long strides and seems very determined and ambitious about health reforms. Detractors may discredit her moves as publicity stunt but this feisty lady has come a long way since her early days in the Mahila Congress. You may or may not agree with her political agendas but you cannot rule out her ability to shake things up. Already doctors of government run hospitals are anxious of any unplanned visit by the chief minister because they are well aware that if things don’t measure up to her expectations she is going to fire them at the spot. What plagued the Health sector most during predecessor Surjya Kanta Mishra’s time was politics, lack of funds and corruption. A family friend of my parents was made the chief administrative officer at a prestigious state-run hospital. During the course of his tenure he discovered a nexus between the top doctors and the lower staff involved in drug trafficking which resulted in shortage of medicine for patients. He was discouraged by his colleagues from exposing the ring as it would not only mean death of his career as a doctor but also the threat it will pose for his life.

If Miss Banerjee successfully implements the infrastructural requirements, if she  ensures proper work ethics with minimal interference from unions, if everyone is treated equally irrespective of their designations and if incidences of inhumanity (E.g. refusal to provide Oxygen cylinder to an asthmatic patient as his family didn’t have the money to bribe the orderly, which ultimately resulted in his death) can be rooted out, the countless number of patients awaiting their turn will see a ray of hope. But it remains a big If.