DOCTOR WITH A BROOM TREATING A PATIENT WITH GOGGLES-RURAL SERVICE-IS IT TRUE?

What comes to your mind when you hear the word doctor?

Yes, he is a well dressed person with a sparkling white coat reaching down the  knee, a stethoscope around his neck, resting on a executive chair, rotating the chair to and fro in semi circles as he sips down the fancy cup of coffee and gently nods his head to acknowledge his patient’s complaints. He then scribbles on a crispy sheet of prescription pad. The golden pen with his name engraved in it complements further to his classy look. He slides the prescription towards the patient over the glass table top. He glances over the thankful expression on his patients face for fraction of seconds. The patient bows to him and walks out. The doctor now reaches over a mini switch on the table side to ring an alert bell. A nurse rushes over and denies any further patient entry. Doctor reaches to the wash basin,scrubs his hand with luxury hand foam while he checks his face on the mirror in front. He walks up to the mini coffee machine in the corner of his chamber, pics up a cup of coffee again and scrolls down the news feed on his smartphone. Few minutes later he gets back to his seat reaches out for the switch on the table side. Now the nurse reaches the door to his chamber and guides the next patient inside. The doctor carefully listens to the patient and slides down the prescription again. After an hour, he looks at the wall clock, its almost lunch time. He walks out of his chamber, has a look at the register and instructs the nurse about certain things, hands over his white coat to her and leaves. He picks the best dishes from the menu, has a relaxed meal and walks out. On the way he meets his old patients who wish him and express their gratitude. He acknowdges to them and walks towards his chamber. He feels thankful for the satisfying job of his. This is exactly what a doctor seems to be in movies and in our minds. Doctors profession is the noble profession. Doctors help the needy. They work based on humanity and not based on money. They dont need money because they are doctors. They are respected by every other being. They are very dignified, sophisticated and relaxed beings. This is what we beleived. But have you ever met a doctor who lives the above life?

Coming to serving the underprivileged in the rural society..

There are people who find this as the most noble thing to do. Be a doctor and serve the needy. There are few young doctors who go to serve rural areas out of their interest and there are few who are forced. Let us consider the first scenario. You finish your studies and with the intension of serving rural areas join a rural set up. First of all, most likely you will see that your hospital building is a one floor, low roof structure with roof usually made up of tiles and not concrete. U will further notice, on walking inside, that your chamber is not a glass cubicle with fancy curtains and self closing doors. Its usually a window with at least one of its pane glass broken and unfixed. The doors usually cannot be locked due to broken latches. The basins usually have broken taps either tied up and secured using a piece of cloth or you will have to balance the tap for few minutes before you stop the water from leaking. There are going to be tree branches reaching your broken washroom window. And its not unusual to witness snakes inside the washroom or in your chamber. Forget about the coffee machine. Its considered a matter of luck if you find suitable and enough water to drink and wash hands round the year.

 It may seem difficult. But if not for this you would have totally missed on this part of the world. You will learn to live with three days power cut at a stretch. You will learn the importance of “save water”. You will learn the importance of every small thing. You will learn to use the last two pumps of hand wash for the remaining 10days. You will learn to call your assistant by his or her name instead of a mere ringing of a bell. You will learn how to make your own prescription pads out of plain paper. 

You will learn how to make best use of a dried up pen refill. You will learn everything that can go wrong with a bp apparatus and every method to fix it. You will learn to stay awake and alert without frequent coffee. You will learn to live without a stable internet connection to scroll the news feed on your phone. You will learn to interact with your own staff in person rather than on the social media account. You will learn to connect and respond to your patients in their language and in their way rather than mere noding. You will learn about the practical problems that a patient and family under goes in following the small bit of advice and buying the most simple pescription you advised. 

You will realise that the theory books you studied for years sometimes are not useful practically. You will learn to limit the usage of higher drugs and learn to treat using minimal interventions. There are a lot illnesses which are originated due to the thoughts of it in one’s mind. And there are many instances where the correct advice and reassurance work wonders compared to treatments using medications. You may even come accross patients who visit you as they were told to do so by spirit worshipers and similar other practices in the village for the complete cure of their illness. You will be surprised to see that sometimes things like faith trust and belief win over. All that is needed sometimes is mental support and reassurance with some simple medications. You will learn to treat with minimal investigations and minimal intervention.  

You may usually face situations where in you run out of supporting staffs as there is shortage of manpower in rural set ups. You may have to be the receptionist, pharmacist, nurse and helper. You will know how important are each of these posts in supporting you. You will know the importance of things and people only in their absence. If you come accross a problem, the best way to fix it is by fixing it yourself as you may not find the resource person to get things fixed for you as and when you wish. This way you master many other professions useful for life. There will be instances where you need to stand up for yourself, your staff or your patient. In such situations you will learn about rules regulations and laws that can save you for life. 

You will be a pro at travelling in jam-packed public transports. Since the transportation is limited in villages you will learn to be punctual to the extent that you start viewing the clock in terms of minutes or seconds. You realise that it matters in treatment as well as day to day life. While travelling you get to hear about the lives of people who spend their lives in villages. Somtimes you may feel the problem they all have is really silly and life is too easy for them. And Somtimes you may feel life is unfair for them and feel thankful for your life.

By serving the underprivileged never assume the world will be thankful to you. There will be people who will thank you for your efforts. But there are going to be instances where complaints are going to be lodged against you for nothing. There will be people who demand things as it is free of cost. There will be people who threaten you to get their works done which may not be lawfully correct. But at the end of it unless you decide to run away you will learn a lot more than your friend in city even if its for a period of a year or so. 

There are negative aspects about a doctors life in rural set up but the positive aspects will draw your mind towards them at the end. I planned to work for a year in a remote village but ended up working in few villages for years and completed five years of rural service today. And everybody who works in a village are not lucky enough to get perks like reservations higher studies. There are people like me who work under random villages under random institutions just for the sake of working. To end it all doctor in rural set up may end up picking up a broom to clean his chamber, he may treat a rich person dropping by in a luxury car and dark goggles, when the doctor himself travels by public transport. But life is definitely not limited to a “doctor with a broom, treating a patient with goggles” kind of scenario..

Celebrating 5 completed years of rural work!!
                                                                                    Dr.Sowmya