Sakunthala did not know what they did to her

Sakunthala (name changed) works as a housemaid, cleaning vessels and sweeping floors in three or four homes. She has a husband who drinks frequently and beats her, and a teen age daughter. She had to go to a big hospital recently for pain in the abdomen. They told her that an operation was necessary. From what she told us, we could guess that there was going to be the removal of a fibroid. We visited her in the hospital a few days after the operation and were happy to hear that she was recovering well. We asked her if the doctors had removed her uterus, as they often do when they remove fibroids in women nearing the end of the child-bearing age. She did not know, and was surprised to her that such things were done. Her daughter was near her, and we asked the girl if she could ask the ward nurse to give her the case sheet so we could find out. Then we realized with a jolt that we were asking for things beyond patients’ rights in a hospital that provided free treatment to those not able to pay for it.

The staff nurse came charging down the aisle and told us that case sheets are not for patients to read! We were sufficiently humble, and said that all we wanted to know was if there had been the total removal of the uterus, and if there had been a test for any possible cancer. The nurse did not know, but had a quick method of finding out. She asked the daughter if “they” had given a plastic bag to be carried to a building which she pointed out, to be deposited there. This had not happened. The nurse declared that if there had been any need for testing for cancer they would surely have given a plastic bag to the patient’s relatives to be carried to the other building. Removal of the uterus? Yes, of course! She was sure that would have been done.

We were disturbed by this during the following days. Why did they treat patients the way veterinary doctors treat animals? No need to talk to them and tell them about what was being done to them? If we had seen the case sheet or other information sheet meant for the patient’s information, would it have been in a form readable by the patient? Would it have been in the local language Sakunthala could read, or in English which she cannot read, or in squiggles?

Ours is a city in which the street names cannot be read by a high percentage of the people because the local government considers it politically unwise to display street names in any language other than the state’s official language. But when it comes to giving information to the patient? If you can’t read English and do not recognize medical abbreviations, you are treated like the veterinary doctor’s patients!

I guess that we ought to be happy that India gives some form of medical care to every one, whether they can pay for it or not, irrespective of what the care is worth! There are well developed economies in the world that do not wish to provide universal health care. Our citizens are better off, in a manner of speaking! But can we improve our practices? Can hospitals treat patients not as a burden but as their customers? After all, it is the people’s money that the hospital runs on, not on anyone’s inheritance! Shouldn’t hospitals have a patient’s charter and enforce it?

S. Ramani