My silence in blogging is attributed to the addition of another member to our family. And during this time, I experienced the importance of finding a good doctor.
It feels good to wait in a roomy reception of a large hospital. Even 3 hours of wait seems nothing since you have the vending machines, pretty receptionists smiling at you once in a while, people in white coats walking past you in a hurry. When you meet the doctor, most often the doctor indulges in small talk and explains what is wrong with you and why. At the end you feel that your long wait and large consultation fees is justified.
In contrast, small town hospitals/ clinics are not too large. The queues seem long and the wait is tiresome. The doctor definitely doesn’t believe that you are worth talking to. Your questions or your detailed explanations of what you are experiencing seemingly fall on deaf ears. But the diagnosis is made and you are given the prescription. At the end, you are not really sure whether you went to the right doctor or not.
City dwellers get pampered in the corporate hospitals. But I have come across many complaints from patients where the mistakes made by the staff were unpardonable. Everyone advised me against getting admitted in a large hospital. So we decided to give doctors in our hometown a chance. It was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.
The doctor spoke less, no doubt, but our questions were never left unanswered. The hospital was small but hygienic. The staff was courteous. The operation was done with clinical precision. It is said that the skill of the surgeon can be gauged by the minimum post operative care required. The overall experience left me in awe of the doctors there and my respect for them increased.
Small town doctors get most patients from villages in the vicinity. The patients cannot understand the medical terminology nor do they want to know what is happening. All they need is a prescription and directions of usage. The doctors are accustomed to such patients. I realized that I cannot expect them to treat me differently.
At the end of the day, all other things don’t matter. What matters is that as patients we trust the doctors with our lives. Hence it is extremely important that you find the right doctor no matter what part of geography you are in.
Firstly Congratulations on baby joining your family.
ReplyDeleteTalking about doctors by and large skill wise they all may not be less but with skill doctors seem to have forgotten the benefits that come with dealing with any child birth naturally.
Why the doctors in India tend to suggest operative way of Child birth than to let it take
its time and course and to let it happen naturally?
Atleast all the Child births in my circle that i known to have happened in India were not natural and did not happen so at the discretion of doctor!
Is it to show their skill? or for personal profile development or for better financial returns due to operative costs or for what do they suggest operative way and always without even giving it a chance to happen naturally?
I would say this as i do not see the same trend in US!... even if the expecting insist they want it operative way as they can't wait more.
Unless medically required, operative way is a discouraged mechanism in US inspite Medical Insurances, a must - being there who cover all costs!
I am not a privileged women to be able to write more around this topic but having been a witness to my own daughters birth and wife's journey through the course with no other support than me, can say for sure
that any woman would love to have a natural birth as it comes with benefits of quick recovery post birth to say the least.
So, in choosing the Right doctor, i may not want to be picky as from City or from a remote town, but i would certainly want to check the doctors trend in births handled being natural or operative especially if the doctor is an Indian.
- dad of a daughter...
Hai Uma
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree with you, doctor should be good whether he is from city or from remote . Personally experienced with the incident of Murali uncle , when my father treated him when he got the heart attack first time. I came know how important a doctors decission at that time.
Lakshmi