Amazing Medicine Science?

Spending the last few days in proximity to installations related to medical science has not only given rise to a sense of amazement about the field within me, but has also raised certain questions on its use.
First the amazement... I was highly impressed to see the way they handled my grand-father at the Emergency Section of Jehangir Nursing Home in Pune. It was exactly like what they show in English television serials focusing on hospital drama. Within seconds of entering the team at Emergency worked in flawless co-ordination to attach equipment monitoring the vitals to my grandpa and started investigating to get a preliminary diagnosis. I never thought I would witness such efficiency in Indian Hospitals (no doubt the professionalism of the Apollo Group of hospitals was at work here), atleast in the current time period. Even the patient handling at the ICU was highly professional. More so the hospital staff were quite a helpful and compassionate lot. This was quite contrary to my perception of how Indian hospitals generally are. It is true that I make my judgment on seeing only the better part of the hospital - the Emergency Section, the ICU and the Private Wards, since I don't have the motivation to go and explore the general wards, but even this much is quite impressive and I will continue to be all praise for the hospital and their staff unless a reliable source tells me otherwise. I do feel that such professionalism and compassion along with advances in medicinal science makes for a much better healing and life-preserving combination than scientific advances alone.
Now for the questions. I observed that there were a significant number of patients in the hospital who were quite old. The main question I had was - does this magical life-saving science select its beneficiaries only on the basis on how much wealth they have? Shouldn't it be on a need basis instead? As in shouldn't those who are much younger, breadwinners for their family be given a higher priority to survive than those who are aged and have already lived most of their life?

Hospitals And ICU Waiting Rooms...

I have spent a good amount of the last 3 days, (2 of them being holidays) in the waiting room of the ICU at a local hospital, where my Grand-father was admitted for a duodenal ulcer. He is quite stable now and due to be moved to a private room tomorrow morning, however, I thought I should pen my experience and my feelings about hospitals and ICU waiting rooms.
Waiting in such waiting rooms is among the worst experiences that one can have in a hospital. The problem being that since your patient is in the ICU, he is in a serious condition, and you are not allowed to go into the ICU to find out how he is. They only call you in if there is an emergency decision to be made or bills are to be paid or medical supplies procured. You are allowed to meet the patient between a few hours allocated for visitors but that is it. You are expected to sit in the waiting room, anxious about how your patient is doing, beside a room full of people sharing the same anxiety as you. Also on your way about the hospital you see injured bodies and wailing relatives. Overall, it makes for a n experience which shows you the darker side of life, the one containing pain, misery and suffering, yet it teaches you to endure such testing times and come out a stronger person, better equipped to handle such inevitable challenges in the future.

Into All Lives Rains Must Fall

I guess that is the decision the Rain Gods must've taken when deciding upon the state of the citizens of Western Maharashtra over the weekend. Not only that, the generosity shown in disbursing this rain was also truly magnanimous.
The amount it rained today seemed like it could provide enough water to transform a mid-sized desert. It did destroy a couple of my plans and kept me home for the greater part of the day.
However, the Rain Gods did decide to allow Punekars a little bit of social life in the evening, which enabled to me to enjoy a sumptuous dinner with my friends at the Chung Fa restaurant on East Street.
This fun-filled outing was enough to wrap up an otherwise wet and lazy weekend.

Ant On The Sidewalk

Ever wondered how an ant crawling across a pavement must be feeling? What is its perception of how the world looks like? I had never wondered about this till I experienced it myself today morning when I set out to purchase a CAT form on my bicycle.
Mentioning that I embarked on this 12-14 km round trip to attempt to get my stamina back to respectable levels would be a digression, so let me avoid that and keep to the subject at hand. The bicycle - like the ant is the smallest of creatures on the road. An on undisciplined roads like Pune's it as susceptible to being crushed, like an ant is while crawling on a crowded sidewalk. The bicycle like the ant has no right whatsoever on the road and the onus is on the cyclist to ensure that the cycle is not in the path of the traffic that is zigzagging to avoid the potholes, lest it gets trampled upon and crushed.
I have now experienced firsthand what such creatures must be going through for roughly around an hour, and from today onwards my sympathy towards these tiny creatures has increased considerably.

My First Post - As Myself

After blogging anonymously for a while I have finally got myself to blog under my own name.
The main reason why I used to blog anonymously was that one is less constrained in freely expressing his views when people know who he is. There is always a constant feeling of being judged beside the risk of ending up hurting or angering people from your life who you are commenting about.
I still plan to keep and maintain my anonymous blog which will bear some of my more expressive and potentially explosive articles.
Here's Varun signing off...