A multi facility clinic, I am in for eye checkup. I walk up to the desk on the floor where ophthalmology section is. Everything seems a bit, er, stuffed.
"There are no tokens", the guy with a white mask, who I earlier thought was a patient, turns around from the horizontal file of people at the desk and tells me that when I manage to catch his attention.
"Then how does it work, my appointment?", he checks my name on a scratch pad. There's a computer right behind which probably has a hundred ways to manage this list.
"I'll call you when your turn comes"
I scan the hall, it's full, a few people are standing here and there, if there is a dress code for the staff I can't tell. Good times I figure, for the docs in this clinic. Business accha hai. A father is holding his kid is shouting for his pathology reports saying "the doctor is waiting yaar!" I look at him and he almost shouts at me to get the reports.
While I have grown up with this chaos, yet now it seems strange. What is it that makes us so Brownian? Anyways, this is how everything works here.
A kind cleaning lady brings some empty chairs, for a woman first, and for the rest of us. I look around to find most of the people have a confused, resigned look. As if their turn will never come. I understand with clarity now what it means to know a doctor, or have a doctor in your family. It is a privilege. Remember that cliche, "ek dost lawyer hona chahiye, ek doctor, ek chartered accountant, ek police inspector", it's true.
I open my laptop to pass my time. An uncle comes and stands behind me overlooking. "Ashool", oh it's me. Sorry uncle, the movie is over.
I walk in while I am telling the doc the issue he tells me to sit asks my age puts a machine scans left eye tells me not to blink scans right puts a lens in front of my left eye makes me read stuff puts a lens in front of my right eye makes me read stuff "I know you can read it! Just tell me which one is better", "I can't.." "So both are fine", "Uh..Yes" he gives me a prescription I ask his name shake his hand and he smiles me out. 5 mins. I go to the counter: Consultation fee Rs 300. It felt like the 4D aqua story in IMAX for which I spent $25 long ago. Worth watching once, but you still curse it for being so short that it almost feels zero value for money.
I walk out of the clinic, get the recommended medicine for another Rs 120. I wonder if this is private health care what would public be like. And is the 'care' missing in the healthcare.
When I was in Bombay with Aarav, I unfortunately had to visit a pediatrician couple of times :-( So the way it worked there was, if you HAVE an appointment, then you are welcome to participate in the chaos in the waiting room. If you don't have an appointment then you wait outside the waiting room, in a different chaos. Each chaos, inside and outside the waiting room, had its own algorithm :-( :-( But the doctor was really good, so you do what you need to do...
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