Doctor in village 2
In the days when my father started practising House Calls were an important duty of the general practitioner. For the new generation let me explain that this was when the doctor went to the house of the patient and examined him or her. There were no ambulances then in rural areas and bed ridden patients used to get care by these House Calls. For the new practitioner this also represented an opportunity at better payment because house calls were always better paid. The caregivers who wanted house calls always waited with a taxi till the last patient in the doctors queue was seen. These visits also strengthened the bond between the doctor and the people. Often this meant wading through dirt and walking through fields but at the end it gave a satisfaction that's difficult to recreate in the current scenario . The essential equipments for this visit like stethoscope, BP apparatus and some medicines were always kept ready in a small briefcase earmarked for this purpose. What I about to talk about is an interesting incident in one of these house visits. My father used to be called frequently to see an octogenarian grandmother. Let's call her Mary for convenience. She was the typical devout Christian lady always clad in the chatta and mundu. While as family doctor my father was familiar with most families it was near impossible to be in the know of everything . So house visits were one opportunity to banter about the events in the family like marriages . So it happened that one evening he was called in again to see Mrs. Mary at her house. After finishing his examination and prescribing medicines he started some chat to humour the old lady.
" So,how is your elder daughter doing? " he asked " she's in Irinjalakkuda,no ? "
Mrs. Mary looked at him and nonchalantly asked
" So you did not know it doctor ? "
My father was perplexed since he did not know what he was supposed to know.
He nodded " No".
" She died two months back doctor "the octogenarian replied stoically.
My father was shocked and said
" I am so sorry to hear that, " he said " you must be feeling terrible "
Her reply was instantaneous.
" Oh no,was she not old doctor? She was past sixty "she replied and went back to her rosary counting ..
In the days when my father started practising House Calls were an important duty of the general practitioner. For the new generation let me explain that this was when the doctor went to the house of the patient and examined him or her. There were no ambulances then in rural areas and bed ridden patients used to get care by these House Calls. For the new practitioner this also represented an opportunity at better payment because house calls were always better paid. The caregivers who wanted house calls always waited with a taxi till the last patient in the doctors queue was seen. These visits also strengthened the bond between the doctor and the people. Often this meant wading through dirt and walking through fields but at the end it gave a satisfaction that's difficult to recreate in the current scenario . The essential equipments for this visit like stethoscope, BP apparatus and some medicines were always kept ready in a small briefcase earmarked for this purpose. What I about to talk about is an interesting incident in one of these house visits. My father used to be called frequently to see an octogenarian grandmother. Let's call her Mary for convenience. She was the typical devout Christian lady always clad in the chatta and mundu. While as family doctor my father was familiar with most families it was near impossible to be in the know of everything . So house visits were one opportunity to banter about the events in the family like marriages . So it happened that one evening he was called in again to see Mrs. Mary at her house. After finishing his examination and prescribing medicines he started some chat to humour the old lady.
" So,how is your elder daughter doing? " he asked " she's in Irinjalakkuda,no ? "
Mrs. Mary looked at him and nonchalantly asked
" So you did not know it doctor ? "
My father was perplexed since he did not know what he was supposed to know.
He nodded " No".
" She died two months back doctor "the octogenarian replied stoically.
My father was shocked and said
" I am so sorry to hear that, " he said " you must be feeling terrible "
Her reply was instantaneous.
" Oh no,was she not old doctor? She was past sixty "she replied and went back to her rosary counting ..
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