The MS at our hospital has changed. The old one is gone and forgotten and the new one is taking charge and being praised. Strange attitudes of the people here!
Being a junior doctor who takes little interests in people around him i was not aware of the change up until today when the new MS made a surprise visit to my clinic. So ignorant was i that my doctor in charge had to inform me 'nai MS sahib'. I am thankful to him for telling me or else i barely stand up to greet anyone. He being my boss deserved that i dismantled my routine and get up from my very comfortable chair to shake hands and share a word or two with him. The guy himself was not interested in meeting a junior doctor rather he was somewhat surprised that this hospital had doctors doing house jobs.( sometimes i am surprised too!). I was noticing for the past two days that my senior doctors were arriving in the hospital earlier than me and clinics were starting at 8 in the morning instead of the normal 1030 1100 in the noon. It is now that i understand the reason behind this odd change of timings.
My hospital is undergoing major change both in terms of building structure and administration. The DHQ of this city was number one topic on the latest Ajj TV show 'Nazim Online'. Every caller lamented the conditions at the hospital and thus the Nazim of the city finally moved to bring in some new blood. It remains to be seen if it would work or not.
There is a free eye camp going on in our hospital these days. The idea of a free eye camp in a govt. hospital is an odd one to say the least. Ideally all treatment should be free in a govt. hospital. If a patient gets a cataract surgery he should get a free lens for his eye as well as all the medicines should be provided for free. But this is not an ideal world and no patient gets a free lens or medicine. But sometimes companies and individuals provide free lenses or medicines to the doctors working in our department and they thus organize free eye camps where cataract surgeries are performed free of charge courtesy the company or the individual who provided the support.
But there is a twist to a story. Such eye camps are a very common thing in Pakistan these days. Almost every place has these camps going on. Thousands of patients are being operated upon everyday in these eye camps that are organized on temporary basis and in temporary setups. Not all camps take place in the operating theatre of a DHQ Hospital. Most of them are organized in rural areas under conditions which are not fit for surgery. More so most of these operations are performed by surgeons who are beginning to learn the skill and most if not all do not possess any qualification for performing these procedures. If i want to organize such a camp i can do this with ease and perform surgeries on patients and no one will question my ability or authority to perform such surgeries. These camps therefore provide excellent practice places for doctors who want to sharpen their hand, so to speak.
Most of the patients that i see in follow up from these camps have grossly deformed irises and other complications. Complications that will stay with them for life. In almost 95% of cases the eyesight is not restored to the internationally accepted levels. the recovery process is tedious and long. But such surgeries are taking place even more frequently as time passes. Quality control and standards are completely neglected and a patient becomes a practicing instrument for the doctor.
But not all doctors are like this. Some are skilled and do these surgeries for the good of people actually. They need to be praised. For their service in restoring eyesight of millions is tremendous.
Being a junior doctor who takes little interests in people around him i was not aware of the change up until today when the new MS made a surprise visit to my clinic. So ignorant was i that my doctor in charge had to inform me 'nai MS sahib'. I am thankful to him for telling me or else i barely stand up to greet anyone. He being my boss deserved that i dismantled my routine and get up from my very comfortable chair to shake hands and share a word or two with him. The guy himself was not interested in meeting a junior doctor rather he was somewhat surprised that this hospital had doctors doing house jobs.( sometimes i am surprised too!). I was noticing for the past two days that my senior doctors were arriving in the hospital earlier than me and clinics were starting at 8 in the morning instead of the normal 1030 1100 in the noon. It is now that i understand the reason behind this odd change of timings.
My hospital is undergoing major change both in terms of building structure and administration. The DHQ of this city was number one topic on the latest Ajj TV show 'Nazim Online'. Every caller lamented the conditions at the hospital and thus the Nazim of the city finally moved to bring in some new blood. It remains to be seen if it would work or not.
There is a free eye camp going on in our hospital these days. The idea of a free eye camp in a govt. hospital is an odd one to say the least. Ideally all treatment should be free in a govt. hospital. If a patient gets a cataract surgery he should get a free lens for his eye as well as all the medicines should be provided for free. But this is not an ideal world and no patient gets a free lens or medicine. But sometimes companies and individuals provide free lenses or medicines to the doctors working in our department and they thus organize free eye camps where cataract surgeries are performed free of charge courtesy the company or the individual who provided the support.
But there is a twist to a story. Such eye camps are a very common thing in Pakistan these days. Almost every place has these camps going on. Thousands of patients are being operated upon everyday in these eye camps that are organized on temporary basis and in temporary setups. Not all camps take place in the operating theatre of a DHQ Hospital. Most of them are organized in rural areas under conditions which are not fit for surgery. More so most of these operations are performed by surgeons who are beginning to learn the skill and most if not all do not possess any qualification for performing these procedures. If i want to organize such a camp i can do this with ease and perform surgeries on patients and no one will question my ability or authority to perform such surgeries. These camps therefore provide excellent practice places for doctors who want to sharpen their hand, so to speak.
Most of the patients that i see in follow up from these camps have grossly deformed irises and other complications. Complications that will stay with them for life. In almost 95% of cases the eyesight is not restored to the internationally accepted levels. the recovery process is tedious and long. But such surgeries are taking place even more frequently as time passes. Quality control and standards are completely neglected and a patient becomes a practicing instrument for the doctor.
But not all doctors are like this. Some are skilled and do these surgeries for the good of people actually. They need to be praised. For their service in restoring eyesight of millions is tremendous.
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