the hospital

 My visit to a government hospital was oxymoronic, it was a mausoleum. I joined the ranks of the common public who visit the government hospitals, civil hospitals and the specialized ENT hospital . The monsoons have taken the toll in Punjab and the roads are a ghostly memory. We visited the hospital last week to visit a specialist nearby to the newly constructed Civil Hospital , Jalandhar. 

What can I say? The visit is an eye-opener to the pathetic, deplorable condition of the hospital .This is not an exaggerated version to sell copy, but what I saw there. The walls exist under layers of dust , the paint lost after the elaborate ceremony to declare it to open to the gullible public. There exists no light , dark dismal, dank corridors take you to the room. The air is neglected, a weird smell which creeps into your nose , refuses to leave you even after the visit. No body sits on the reception desk to guide you, water creeps down the stairs welcoming you.  Oh, yes, one is supposed to be well versed in Punjabi to know where which doctor sits or have so much time to keep making rounds and you are lucky if the doctor is still in his room.

The room is no better, it has furniture , the quintessential computer, the equipment ( in over sterilized calcified implement box) but the air is stagnant and the fan moves in a negative speed as if it has also given up its task. The fight against in giving air is too much . 

The doctors, well qualified, specialists in their fields are par excellence but the environment sucks out the zest for their profession. Yes, they are impeccable in their diagnosis , the medication was perfect , my nephew did get well,but don't we owe it to them to give them humane environments to work in?

Where does the money go in Punjab? Why is the hospital a monument to the dead , instead of the living? Why is the air neglected, stagnant, dank , depressing and  everyone operates on a slow-motion speed.

Punjab boasts of a relatively rich progressive electorate. We , pride ourselves to be a progressive, state where if possible we would start farming on the moon!

Gone are the days that we can discuss, have bureaucratic meetings where all is discussed ,water served with the budgeted flowers and the proper snacks, and swept into files which never see the light till the next so called scheduled meeting where the same agenda is presented with no result. 

Punjab needs action ,simple as that . It needs to flag the dying spirit which is buried under the nonchalant, superficial mask of today donned by its public and the government.

Ravneet Sangha