HOSPITALS ARE BETTER THAN PRISON!

With the whole Rahul Mahajan saga dominating the news channels, I was reminded of something so simple that it is overlooked in most hospitals across the country.

Almost every hospital has harboured a law breaker at some point of its existence.

Sometime last year, one of my bosses called and informed us that he was sending a patient who was to be admitted in our ward (let me just remind you that it’s a Surgical Ward) for treatment.

The patient arrives in the casualty and is referred to us, since he came with a reference letter, and we promptly admit him. Just one problem, he has liver disease, a Medical problem not a surgical one.

We admit him, work him up for all usual investigations, keep him well fed and later find out, through some hard questioning, (nobody is comfortable hiding from a Doctor) that he was to be arrested that evening, but if he stays for three days with us his bail will be approved and he will be out roaming the streets.

Now, let me clarify that he indeed had a disease, but it was not one that warranted admission to a hospital.

Point number two, he was send to a Municipal Hospital, not our bosses private set up because there could have been trouble there.

Anyway, this guy stays for exactly three days, gets up on his feet on the third morning and demands a discharge. He has just been informed on his cell phone that his bail has come through.

So goes the medical set up in our country. Jai Hind!