Doctor’s Day Out – The True Warriors

A t dawn as the first sun’s rays greeted the earth, 33-year-old Chandrajeet stirred and rolled lazily on the bed, shutting down the buzzing mobile alarm to get those few more minutes of precious additional slumber. How much he loved his sleep.

Today was a special day. It was their 3rd marriage anniversary. At 7.30 am he kicked himself into gear. Cautiously, without making any sound, not wanting to disturb his little baby of 10 months old, he made his way to the bathroom. Just as he was readying himself for a shower, the phone rang. Sprightly, he answered it. An early morning call from his boss spelt emergency. He had been summoned to the work place promptly.

There had been a situation, he was required to report in the next 45 mins. It would be a race against time. Transit time to workplace was 30 mins, he needed to leave house in the next 15 mins. He finished his ablutions, readied himself and only just had time to drink a glass of milk. Breakfast would have to wait, although his wife relentlessly pursued him to eat, but Chandrajeet diplomatically got the tiffin packed. He wished and kissed her, promising to take her out for dinner tonight, he bid adieu.

As soon as he reached, he ushered into the bright lit room. Air condition bellowed at full speed. Colleagues worked with aplomb efficiency. He got himself scrubbed and cleaned in a jiffy. Time was precious. His colleague gave him a run down on the evolving situation. A man lying on the table in the center of the room, bleeding profusely all over his body and bruised at several places. Imperceptibly, he delivered his last line, which alarmed Chandrajeet, “The patient met with bike accident today morning, his knee splintered, femur destroyed. X-rays show bones broken at several places. He has lost lot of blood and tested positive for Covid-19”. Reverentially, Chandrajeet looked at the patient, it was young boy probably around 20 years age. This would be byzantine.

He immediately exerted his skills. Working delicately, efficiently and with profound accuracy, Dr. Chandrajeet used also his technique and experience in righting the wrongs. He cut open the skin and dabbed out all the blood from the affected area. Shards of glass pieces had pierced the body, which needed to be picked out and cleaned thoroughly. Surgery lasted for an hour and half. It was a resounding success, albeit with a few complications during the procedure as a critical nerve jangled out in the melee, which threw challenges under the knife. After completing the suturing, he left the operation theatre and the patient to the care of the team with important instructions to the nurses and fellow residents. It was 9.30 a.m. His OPD would start at 10.00 am. He needed to visit the general wards, to check on all the patients, a daily routine.

The ward was jam packed with patients. This was going to take some doing. There was Mr. Ashish, whom he had operated on yesterday. He checked the pulse, took in his readings and inquired about his health. All seemed in order. Next, he moved towards Mr. Ghatodkach, whom he had operated for Hip replacement surgery. All seemed well. Next up was Mr. Anand, he seemed pale. His pulse was running low. Immediately, Dr. Chandrajeet barked out instructions to the nurse and put him under strict observation. She was to give him an update every 2 hours and a resident Doctor was put in-charge of taking care of the patient till he stabilized. Up next was a 2-year-old, born with congenital defect and a twisted ankle. She was operated couple of days ago. The worried parents looked at him more in hope than expectation. Dr. Chandrajeet assured them the little one was recovering well. It was another 45 mins before he could cover all the patients. He did not even bother to look at the time. He was running late for the OPD and practically sprinted from the ward to his next destination.

At the OPD, he was greeted with a serpentine queue, stretching kilometer long. The guard informed that they were waiting for him. The doctor glanced at the queue, pulled up his apron and took his seat behind the desk. This would take him through the afternoon. Mrs. Koyal had an issue with the wrist. He examined her hand and prescribed her a few medicines and physio exercises. 70-year-old, Mr. Nandkumar complained of pain in the joints, a common arthritis problem at his age. Doctor examined his knees and ankles, and suggested the remedy accordingly. He asked him to visit in 2 weeks-time.

Time flew by as patients after patients kept thronging with issues and the Doctor tended to each one of them with the utmost care and positivity. Never once did he sigh, nor show any tiredness. His only motto was to serve his patients with the best care and advice he could muster. Twice, his wife tried to call him, the Doctor could not answer nor return her calls. He would speak to her during lunch time, he thought.

By the time the OPD wound down, the clock hit 2:00 pm. He was just about to go for lunch. As he entered the cafeteria, his boss, the hospital Dean called up. He was summoned to the dean’s office to discuss an urgent and important matter. There was a critical Covid committee meeting with medical experts at 3:00 pm to take stock of the situation. They needed to prepare for the meeting. He simultaneously called up 2 of his colleagues to the dean’s office.

At the committee meeting, they discussed at length on the preparedness of the incoming patients and the current infrastructure to handle the surge in cases. How were they going to handle it? The hospital was already running at full capacity, with barely any vacant beds. They needed to make emergency makeshift covid centers to keep up with the massive incoming admissions. Situation was grim. The hospital was fighting on all fronts. The staff was a major concern as is they were short-staffed under normal circumstances. With the patient admission having increased 10-folds, the doctors were being stretched to their extreme limits. The doctors would have to put in double duty shifts to cope up with the rising cases. Other facilities such as ventilators, Oxygen cylinders, vaccination program were also discussed. It was decided to immediately take steps to ramp up the number of beds within the hospital. Dr. Chandrajeet and his team were put in-charge of the task to setup the facilities inside the new multistorey hospital building in the next 3 days.

Post culmination of the meeting, he felt a pang of hunger. He went to grab a coffee and a bite. As he was crossing the hallway, he overheard a loud commotion. As he neared the scene, he realized something was amiss. Some people were furiously hurling abuses at a doctor and his team of nurses. He immediately rushed to the spot. The relatives’ kin had died due to Covid complications and the relatives were blaming the doctors for their negligence. They were manhandling the doctors and even threatened to destroy the hospital equipment’s. Immediately Dr. Chandrajeet sent for the security guards on duty.

He intervened and spoke to the relatives in a kind but firm tone. He understood what they were going through, but they also needed to understand the doctors’ point of view. The doctor and his team tried their very best in saving the life of their kin, but alas it was not meant to be. Their actions did not warrant any justification of maltreating and shoving the doctors. They all needed to stay calm and accept the reality. The relatives tried their belligerent best to argue, but Dr. Chandrajeet held his ground with calmness of a sea and respectfully abated their aggressions. Eventually, the relatives understood his point, apologized profusely to the doctors and left the premises. He spoke to the guards to be extra vigilant during such matters.

It was 7:00 pm. His wife called inquiring when he would reach home. She had cooked special dishes for their anniversary. Ahh!! Our anniversary, he thought. He had promised to take her out for dinner tonight. She must have understood that he would be late and never bothered asking about that. How glad and lucky he felt for having her in his life. Jeez, there was no time to get any gift as well. He would make it up to her some other time. He told her he should be home by 9:00 pm and this time he promised to honor it.

He went to oversee the preparations for the set-up of the super-specialty facility. They had discussed in the meeting that the preparations would start immediately. As he reached the block, he was shocked to see there was not a soul around and the block was locked out akin to a haunted place. Exasperatedly, Dr. Chandrajeet sprang out his shoulders, let out a loud roar and summoned the committee members and the helpers. He fired them for not acting on what was discussed in the meeting. Now was a good time to start and nobody would be going home tonight without setting up the basic infrastructures.

Setting an example, he helped out in lifting the cots and arranging them properly. Beds were put in place, so were linens, and other medical equipment’s that could be made available. The rest would be arranged by tomorrow and they would have the ward ready for operation in 2 days’ time. He was satisfied with their effort tonight, but lots needed to be done during this time of the severe crisis. He would take a stock of the situation tomorrow morning, as soon as he reached the hospital. Dr. Chandrajeet’s stomach growled with profane insanity. It was time for him to head home. The clock had zoomed past 10:00 pm.

On his way home, he called his wife informing he would be home in 40 minutes. Almost on cue, mid-way, he got an SOS call from his boss. There had been a major accident and a VVIP had suffered brutal injuries. They would need to operate him pronto. Wherever he was, he needed to be there at the hospital in 20 minutes. The ambulance carrying the VVIP would reach in 30 minutes.

Without a hint of displeasure, he turned back his vehicle towards the hospital. Informed his wife as much. She was upset and justified. But she wished him luck and asked him to have dinner before the operation. He would try.

As he reached the hospital, he was greeted with commotion. Incredulously the media were already at the entrance. How on earth did they get here before anyone, he wondered. He made his way to the high-tech operation theatre and gathered the team around yapping out instructions while scrubbing and cleaning himself. He knew they needed to be gear up, completely organized as there would be no time to waste. Every second counted. This would be the highest profile case the hospital would admit in its illustrious history and a lot of prying eyes would be on them. They needed to hit the right notes from the start.

Shortly, the VVIP was shepherded into the operation theatre. A look at the limp body and Dr. Chandrajeet shuddered. For a moment he went blank. He did not know where to start from. There were broken bones all across the body. He studied the x-rays and simultaneously discussed on the procedure with his colleagues. Shoulder had bulged out remarkably from its comfort zone. Hip bulked from the massive impact. Knee seemed to have found a new place outside the body, while the ankles dangled loosely. He was losing liters of blood. It was a miracle that the heart was still beating and the lungs were intact. Those were the only positives. The anesthetics and the likes had already started their work. This was sure going to be a very long night.

The team of doctors and nurses headed by Dr. Chandrajeet slogged for 10 continuous hours, without taking a single break. They replaced, mended and resurrected 95% of the damages caused to the body. An incredibly complex, delicate and arduous operation was performed. There were plenty of challenges during the course and thought they might have lost the patient twice. But each time they managed to pull him through. Eventually, the VVIP made it into the safe zone. He felt proud of their accomplishment. He decided to personally take daily updates and check on the patient himself.

The clock hit 10:00 am. Time sure was flew by. But he barely had time to think. Today’s calendar was lined up with 4 routine operations. He still had his routine ward visit, check on the health of the VVIP patient and as well as take stock of the situation on the infrastructure for the new building. He was running late for the 1st operation. He quickly made his way to the Operation theatre. Relatives had lined outside with fear and nervousness filled amongst them. They longingly looked at the doctor as he made his way in. He felt compassion towards them, their loved ones would be undergoing an operation. He had a responsibility towards them. He had an obligation towards his profession, towards the society. He would give his absolute best to save more lives and serve humanity. He would not trade this for any other job in the world. Dr. Chandrajeet got himself scrubbed and cleaned once again readying for another operation.