Confluence of Medicines!!!!!

Most doctors I have come across in India do not live up to the Hippocrates’s oath (Ethics of medical practice written by the Father of the modern medicine). The main aim for  quite a few of them is to make tons of money in the fastest possible time since they generally tell that they had to spend millions of rupees to complete their studies and that needs to be recovered. One of the ploys to make money is to insist on unwanted test to be conducted on the patient since the doctor get his cut from the recommended clinic or from the super specialty hospital where the doctor is the consultant. Patients have no choice but to get all the tests conducted at an exorbitant cost even if it has been done recently as the doctor does not want to view the report of the earlier tests. It is because of this attitude I have developed mistrust against the people in this profession.

Couple of week’s back I was in for a very pleasant surprise when I visited a clinic along with my wife where she had gone for a vascular check up. Though she was visiting the clinic first time we had taken all other reports of tests done on account of osteoporosis and when we met the doctor who does the initial examination to decide as to which tests had to be conducted there, he wanted to see all the reports and on going through the same stated that most of the tests has been conducted earlier and need not be done once again….Further unlike other doctors who just view the problem stated by the patient, he insisted on going through the x-rays of the problems being faced by my wife … on questioning the doctor if the ortho reports are relevant to cardio vascular he simply stated that he needs to check the entire well being of the patient. It is rare to find such a doctor in present times and further he acknowledges the fact of English medicines limitations and hence his clinic has a combination of English, Natural, Ayurvedic and Holistic medicine. The test package involves consultation with all the fields of medicine mentioned. The aim of the clinic is to treat the patients only by medicines and an operation is just a last resort if it is not possible to cure. Hats off to the clinic and the doctors there ………. This experience does help me to regain my trust for the medical professionals and I sincerely hope more doctors try to practice in similar fashion…….I mean globally.

CRAZY IDEAS ….

While browsing the net I came across couple of news that was quite strange as well as shocking to general public yet the founder member are confident that their idea would click and become a success story.

First one is the news is of an invention in Wii technology – Video game urinal. The inventor of this game says that going to a loo would be much more fun and to prove this a trial version of the game has been installed in a London Bar.The visitors to the bar can play one of the three games every time they use the urinal. The game was designed to create a valuable media opportunity from the 55 seconds the average male spends while he pees just staring at a blank wall. There is an advert played before and after the game promoting a drink you can buy at the bar. At the end of the game, players are encouraged to post their scores via mobile to Twitter and to a live leader board so they can compete with their friends.The units will be rolled-out in selected venues across the UK in early 2012. 

OMG just imagine the status update by males on FB or twitter …….. I scored xxx in 50 seconds in the urinals try beating my score!!!! There would be an immediate uproar by women stating that discrimination has been done against their sex for they do not have any such games!!! Further still planning for a mobile urinal game !!!Lolzz

The second new is quite a recent one which was on Yahoo and it is about World’s First Sex School that has opened up in Austria. This school has been opened by a Swedish schoolmistress in Austria to teach the students how to be better lovers and the school offers hands on lessons in seduction and the fees is 1400 pounds per term. As per the headmistress of the school anyone over the age of 16 can enroll in the first college of applied sexuality and students must live in co-ed dormitory block where they are expected to practice their home work. She further emphasized that their core education is not theoretical but practical so that the students are better lovers…and at the end of the term qualifications will be awarded!! 

I wondering what would be the qualifications …BAS (Bachelor of applied sexuality) or MSM or MSF (Master of seduction of males or females) hahahaha

World is definitely becoming crazier day by day and there is no end to the weird imagination of the people around the globe !!!

 

EULOGY to 2011……….

As the curtains are closing down on the year 2011 few incidents that occurred during the year would remain vividly in the minds of the people of this world. A year when the earth rocked literally……there were over 2164 earthquakes throughout the world varying from magnitude of 5.0 to 8.9 on  Richter scale , flooding in various parts of the world , thinning of ice in Arctic thereby ice free Arctic sea for the first time in ages. 

Out of so many natural disasters one of them stands out notably because of multiple simultaneous disaster occurring in the same region and that is the earthquake measuring 8.9 on Richter scale accompanied by 10 meter high tsunami struck the coast of Japan devastating the entire north eastern coastal areas. The tsunami traveled nearly 10 kilometers inland destroying everything in its path which were already weakened by the quake and the final tally of death was considerably less compared to the deaths caused by tsunami in 2005 December in Thailand, India and Sri Lanka and the official tally was around 16,000. However the climax of this earthquake and the tsunami was the meltdown of the cores in the nuclear power plant at Fukushima, Japan due to lack of power for cooling the cores which was disrupted first by quake then by the tsunami leading to multiple explosions giving fears of air borne radiation leak to the entire population of Japan, Philippines and other parts of the world. Nuclear fallout dependent on the wind conditions can be beyond 1000 square miles. Immediately after the explosions Japanese government evacuated their population living within 20 kilometers of the Fukushima power plant to avoid radiation exposure and further complications.

The events that occurred at Japan’s Fukushima Power station heralded new ammunition to the anti nuclear protestors throughout the world who cited the failures which occurred there and the frightening scenarios of a nuclear meltdown. India also saw violent protests against construction of Nuclear power plants at Koodankulam Tamilnadu & Jaitapur in Maharashtra on this account and is still continuing thereby very much needed clean power source is being denied to already struggling Indian states.

Floods in Australia, Pakistan, Thailand, Brazil and in various parts of Europe took its toll in lives and damage to property. This year was also considered the hottest year of the decade with temperatures rising above normal in many part of the world including Arctic region leading to Ice free Arctic sea raising serious concerns of global warming and Ice cap melting. Human race has raped this universe and one sincerely hopes that stringent steps are taken to preserve the earth for the generations to come failing which the effects of the actions would be visible within next 30-50 years when the Ice in poles would melt and the sea level would raise over 10 meters flooding most land on the earth.

2011 would be a year to reckon in the Arab world as the Jasmine revolution or the Arab spring otherwise known as Arab awakening …a revolutionary wave of demonstration and protests against the ruling government/ dictator spread throughout the region leading to the fall of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The protests and demonstrations are still ongoing in Syria despite the military crackdown by the ruling government. However in the Gulf States Bahrain witnessed violent protest which was immediately clamped down by the ruler with the help of Saudi troops. Protest in Oman at the same time was mainly aimed at higher salaries and better benefits for the local population which was conceded by the ruler Sultan Qaboos and the protests petered out in no time.

Economic crisis which gripped the world last year return to haunt European countries this year leading to wide spread protests against governments in various European countries such as Greece, Italy, Finland, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. EU leaders had to take tough decisions to bolster the failing image of a strong and economic Europe to the world. The financial market all over the world plunged creating panic and jitters among investors due to the debt crisis of Europe and USA too.

Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda chief was finally shot dead by US Special Forces in northern part of Pakistan and his body was disposed in sea at an undisclosed location raising many questions from many quarters of the world. Most Americans were pleased with this operation as they had finally hounded and killed the mastermind of the Twin Tower attack in New York. A chapter in the war against terror comes to an end this year.

Other notable death was of the co founder of Apple Inc Steve Jobs who succumbed to prolonged fight against cancer. The internet was abuzz with condolences and details of his life and the products he invented which revolutionized the present day electronic world. Celebrities Elizabeth Taylor and Jagjit Singh also passed away this year in addition to scores of unknown normal people.

There has been enough drama and happening in India such as the Indian cricket team winning the world cup again after a span of 28 years, Anna Hazare and his team protesting against corruption in India and for introducing a Lok Pal bill to curb corruption in government offices, Telecom 2G scam in which the exchequer lost over Rs 1 70,000 crores  leading to jailing of the telecom Minister and 11 others involved in the scam. 

On my personal front I had to leave my job in Oman during October and relocate back to India for the treatment of my wife who is struggling with Osteoporosis (weakening of bones) and fluid draining from joints. Operations have been ruled out because of the brittle bones and hence undergoing Ayurveda treatment which can bring back mobility to approximately 70% in matter of 4 months.

All in all this year has been quite eventful throughout the world and as curtain falls on 2011 and a new year emerges..2012 I wish all my friends and relatives a very Happy New Year and I hope that the New Year proves the doomsday theory wrong… It is said that the world would come to its end on 21^st December 2012 and you would be able to read various theories that envisages pole shifts due to the gravitational force of Planet Nibiru causing constant earthquakes, giant tsunamis, and violent hurricanes killing most of the human race. Well we have to wait and watch if it could happen…I leave it to your imaginative minds to think!!!!!!!!

RAIN GOD’s KOLAVERY……………………

Kolavery is the buzz word these days and it means "Murderous feeling or blood lust""and it seems that even the rain god has been infected by this. It has been raining quite heavily in Tamilnadu and in Northern Indian states. Been pouring in Chennai from 24^th Night till now which is 40 hours and there are signs of more rains in the offing. Earlier records of the amount of rainfall in Chennai during this month have been broken and we are pretty sure that this year a new record would be set.

Due to this incessant rain the roads are flooded and commuting within the city has become a nightmare with potholed road jammed traffic. Larger vehicles such as government buses and SUV’s cabs travel at high speed on the flooded roads sloshing dirty water on the pedestrians and other vehicle leading to flaring of tempers and fights. 

Yet I had to travel to the Central station to drop my younger daughter going on a school field trip to Amritsar, Punjab yesterday morning. Being early morning (5.15 am) we did not encounter much traffic however the time taken was double the normal travel time.

Because of the prevailing conditions of the roads I decided to take the suburban train to my sister’s place near Avadi, a suburb of Chennai. My first trip on a suburban train here at Chennai and I was pleasantly surprised for the cost of ticket to Patabiraman Military siding was just Rs 7.00 one way compared to call taxi charge of over Rs 500.00 and also the time taken to reach the destination was just a quarter of the time taken by road travel. Chennai suburban trains have dirty compartments with stained wooden seats, jammed doors/windows and are not to the standards of the compartments of Delhi & Kolkata metros yet a life saver of many people who use this service on a daily basis since it is very cheap compared to bus travel and time saving too. On my maiden travel most of the persons traveling in the same compartment with me were engineering college students and their conversation and their actions during the brief 40 minutes travel transported me back in time of my days at college reminiscing those carefree days.

During my return journey it started raining quite heavily and the water was streaming into the compartment through the open door and spraying the passengers sitting in the first row just after the door. Some passengers tried closing the door half way and since it was jammed the door did not budge at all and the passengers sitting there were getting drenched. One of the passenger had a brilliant idea and she opened up her umbrella within the compartment preventing further drenching. All the passengers had their laugh during the gloomy afternoon.

One step forward and three steps back

Common man in Tamilnadu is shell shocked hearing the news of the a steep increase of prices on few of the basic necessities of life such as Milk, power and local bus tariff. A liter of toned standard milk has gone up from Rs17.80 to Rs 26.00, Half Kg Butter from Rs 100.00 to Rs 150.00, Electricity charges up by 30 % and so forth with immediate effect ie 18^th Nov 2011. In addition to the announced increases the ripple effect of the weakening Indian Rupee is seen in the increase of fuel prices thereby increasing the cost of transportation of good is passed on to the end consumer…common man. These increases does have a serious impact on the household budgets of the people and with no increase in the income of the family only way these additional expenses could be met by reducing the consumption of all the affected products. 

Today I heard an interesting conversation between three persons in a tea shop and the topic was the increase in costs as announced yesterday and it goes like this

First person: such a steep increase by Jayalalitha’s government is not correct especially on milk and bus travel and because of this my child will not be given milk at night

Second person: yes what you say is correct…the increase should have been done gradually over a period of time so that we would have got some breathing space.

First person: even if it was gradual what is the use as our salaries remain stationary for years together.

Third person: yes if the salaries are also increased then we would be able to still afford the increased costs without sacrificing the necessities of our children and also ourselves. But then dreaming of salary increase is a waste since it would never happen in private companies.

Second person: we made a mistake by electing AIADMK since Karunanidhi would never have passed such a bill for steep increase as he is more caring about the welfare of the people. I am sure that this party will not retain its power in the next election

First person: Well we have a long wait ahead of us because Amma has just come to power and god only knows what else she is going to do further to make more money for themselves.

Being educated I do know that any government would look for various means of reducing their budget deficit but then spread the increase on to various items instead of increasing price of few items so drastically. Well we are all in for much more cost increases in the coming days with spiraling oil cost due to weakening Indian currency  and I hope that we would be able to provide the basic necessities to our children for their growth and studies ……….most families would have to forego something else to take care of the needs of children. For a common man it is now “One step forward and three steps backward” instead of “two steps forward and one step back”. We are sure going to see a definite change in the society because of the inflation in near future!!! 

God help the common man for he is the worst affected for the rich will still continue their lifestyle without flinching about the increases and the people below poverty level are not used to such luxuries so would not care either way.  

My Rant of the day.........

It  is said that “Idle mind is devils workshop” and with so much free time with me there has been a constant flow of thoughts in my mind but then when I sit down to jot these my mind goes totally blank. I know that I have not been cut out to be a writer and hence may be missing the tricks of the trade when it comes to pen these thoughts. In addition to the random thoughts there few issues with has been always on my mind and those are….getting a suitable employment at Chennai itself, finding a cook/housemaid to be based at home and the third is the operation of my wife who is suffering from some bone related issues.  

Second and third opinions has been taken regarding the operation and the final conclusion is that operation of the left leg is a must and it can be done within next 6 months or so provided my wife is not facing any discomforts. But each day being a pain we have decided to go ahead with the same end December in spite of various suggestion from persons to try out alternative medicinal treatment such as Unani & Ayurvedic  and so forth. The decision about the hospital also was being debated for various factors such as cost, patient care and the expertise the doctors & facilities of the hospitals. Finally we shortlisted three hospitals at Chennai…. MIOT, Apollo & Bone and Joint clinic where we plan to get this surgery done. While browsing the net I came across very bad reviews of experiences by patients at MIOT hospital and there were over 15 recent reviews of knowledgeable patients writing about the bad experience they have faced during post operation treatment and the rude behavior of the doctors and other personnel there. Some reviews painted Dr Mohandas in very bad light which had an negative impact in our minds about the hospital..Like I had mentioned in my earlier post Hospitals are similar to hospitality industry where all concerned needs to be courteous and that instance I decided to go ahead with Apollo hospital though it is costly.

Apart from my personal issue there is quite a lot happening around me and once again there has been a storm warning in Tamilnadu with heavy showers for next 4-5 days….we have been having showers form this morning and this definitely disrupts the traffic in Chennai because of the flooding and pot holed roads……..it would be a total chaos to travel about. The other news making waves in the media and internet is the birth of a girl child to Aishwaraya Bachan…media went berserk with this news while I am sure that all over India at least 70,000 births would have taken place yesterday which has gone untold. So many controversies floating around about this baby just because the child is born to famous personality ….phew it good not be in the eye of the media!!!!!

I sure love to write more but then my mind has gone blank now ………………………

Healthcare….Do the doctors and hospitals care about the patients??

Going to a super specialty hospital at Chennai was quite sickening for it looked more like a government hospital with hardly any space to walk nor sufficient seating arrangements for the patients in various counter due to very large crowd of patients and their attendants. Most people I saw yesterday in the hospital are from Bengal and to cater to their needs the hospital authorities have even employed a Bengali to be seated in the help desk. Medical tourism is not only for foreigners but also for Indians staying in other states and generally Chennai and Vellore draw huge crowd from various parts of India and from the Middle East.

 Hospital is a hospitality service industry but then the way the secretaries and the other hospital personnel deal with the patients are much to be desired for since they carry out their service as though they are doing favors to patients. The said hospital does charge hefty fees for their services but they hardly bother about the hardship the patient is undergoing…..we were in the hospital from 10am to 3.30pm just for a 10 minute consultation with the doctor. But then if you have a friend or a relative working in the same hospitals then all rules are broken and they get preferential treatment and are able to meet the doctors even if they do not have an appointment. There have been various movements in India to curb favoritism /corruption in all walks of life and the recent Anna Hazare movement galvanized the population of India to fight against all sorts of corruption but then unless all of us have a common goal the root of corruption will never get uprooted for ages to come.

Another thing I noticed is that a doctor would suddenly leave his cabin while examining the patients and inform the secretary that he would be back in a short while but would not come back for over a hour or even longer and the usual excuse given is that there was an emergency either in the ward or in OT. The out patients waiting for the doctor has no other option but to wait in vain for the doctor to return and finish their consultation. It is understood that going to a hospital means that the whole day needs to be written off for but what irks me is that I have found the doctors to be chatting with other doctor friends elsewhere while the patients are waiting desperately to see the doctor. An incident occurred few years back in another super specialty hospital in the city….I had gone to meet the specialist in connecting with some gastro issues and were waiting in the reception for the doctor to come to his cabin but alas he was in the opposite cabin chatting with another doctor and a friend for over a hour. On approaching the reception and asking her to inform the doctor that we are waiting to see.. She tells us that doctor is busy in a technical discussions and he cannot be disturbed whereas we could hear the conversation and the laughing the cabin and they were engrossed in casual talks and jokes!!! That was the last straw and I walked out of the hospital much to anger of my wife and to this day I refuse to go to that particular doctor.

It is sellers market in health sector because of the reputation and brand image each one has created in their respective field. When we or our relative has fallen sick or have recurring health issues we tend to go to the hospital which has famous doctors in the field and doing so we have to bear the brunt of lousy service, hefty charges and so forth. There are so many doctors who are good, quite humble and approachable but then their brand image is zero or zilch and hence they are not preferred by the general public and they languish in small time polyclinics plying their practice or set up their own clinics. 

The views written above are purely my views due to the experience I have had in hospitals and in no way a negative thought against any hospital or a doctor. But the final conclusion is that healthcare in India is for privileged few who are wealthy or famous or having a relative working in the hospital!!!