Note: Article sent by Anonymous volunteer.
The child in panic
desperately looking for help, his grandmother instantly realizes that something
is wrong the only words the child can utter are AMI!!!! She quickly marches and
finds his mother in bed crying and shivering complaining of palpitations, she
tries to get her up and take her to the hospital but she refuses to be taken to
the hospital saying I don’t want to end up like HER!!!!
But who is the SHE
in question? She was sweet, kind hearted, funny, and full of life yet to begin
the best years of her life. On a reunion with friends my phone beeps and the
words left me in utter shock. “She is in a comma!” I excused myself and moved
to a quieter place trying to make sense of what was happening. I stood there in
silence thinking about how? When? Why? She was perfectly OK the last time I saw
her not long ago.
I left in a hurry
and started the long drive back to my hometown. The next day I went to the
hospital to offer whatever little help I could. What I found out filled me with
an even deeper sadness and anger. It was gross negligence that had brought this
beautiful person into the clutches of death. Something that could have been so
easily avoidable was the reason that a life full of prospects came to a tragic
and sudden end.
Diabetes ran in the
family and as to why all the apparent signs were ignored is beyond me. And
perhaps should be left alone as it will only inflict more grief upon the
family. Before the night in question 2 am at night she became extremely uneasy,
stressed and had a panic attack. What her family did next was what anyone would
do to get help and took her to a hospital. The doctor was informed that her
sugar level was very high as revealed by the test conducted a day prior.
Lack of competence,
lack of compassion or maybe just to get her off his hands at 3 AM at night the
doctor told the family high sugar level has nothing to do with it and it is
just plain old stress. He pumped her with a vial of valium pushing her into the
beyond. It was indeed the last nail in the coffin, as what little strength her
had left to fight was taken away from her and she succumbed to sleep.
Her brother picked
her up and took her home into her bed, the concerned mother stayed by her daughter’s
side the whole night and dozed off next to her. Her eyes opened at 5 A.M and
noticed her daughters lip color to be a horrifying blue shade. She rushed to
wake up her son and they rushed her to another hospital this time. Even over
there she did not get the required care and our country being our country. She
only started to get the required care when phone calls were made by someone who
knew someone. Alas it was too little to late even though the best doctors tried
continuously the next 48 hours but they eventually had to pull the plug. As
what was left of her on that bed was only a body full of tubes surrounded by
the beeping sounds of machines. What made her truly is she was dead.
Why has life become
so cheap in our country? Why do we have to use contacts to even get the most
basic of human rights? I often think to myself if we can’t even trust hospitals
and the doctors in them, what are we to do if tomorrow some other loved one
needs desperate help. It is indeed a sad state of affairs; I can’t understand
why we as a nation lack compassion. We gobble down a 5000 rupees meal at a
fancy restaurant and feel so mighty upon giving the poor waiter a 200 rupees
tip. Maybe it is not only the doctors that are to be blamed. Maybe it is all of
us. Maybe it is the whole nation. Maybe we all could contribute to make someone
else’s life better in some way but are we to self-centric to think outside our
little bubble?
It was indeed a very
tragic evening and even though our interactions had always been very formal yet
it moved and affected me in a way I would not have expected. Maybe it was that
she was yet a child. Or maybe it was because it was something so very
avoidable. I will never know. All I can do is hope for a better future for me
and for everyone everywhere. As tragic is it was and when all is said and done
I find solace in the verse.
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