Manikram came to us with a rotting leg.There were ulcers down the front of the shank to the dorsum of the foot.Maggots were having a field day feeding off his flesh.
My junior did a good debridement along with the senior nurse.
I saw Manik Ram in the ward accompanied by his wife they were simple village folks.They had come from a faraway place and there was no way they could have managed to come for dressings so they decided to stay back in the hospital.
Anticipating a big bill, we decided to discharge the patient in our software but never the less keep him back in the hospital free of charge while we did his dressing.
At the end of the second week his perky daughter-in law appeared out of nowhere. Maniklal seemed to have made up his mind to go home.
I thought he might have been home-sick so I agreed to let him go and offered to teach the bystanders how to do the dressing at home They could come back to us for further management.
Meena bai,our nurse assistant , matter of factly enlightened me as to why Manikram was to go home.
Apparently in their society whenever someone has maggots growing in any part of the body,their society's norm is that the person has to feed the whole community to a meal or else they are ostracized from the community.
His daughter-in-law had come all the way to take the father-in-law to fulfill that bit of formality back home.
They had no money to foot the hospital bill,they had no relatives or the people from their village visiting them while he was sick .To be accepted back into their community ,none of whom had showed up when he was sick, he had to buy his way back with a meal.What kind of poverty is this?
in the meantime India's mission on mars has just been successfully launched.
Fifteen days of earned leave after working for two years,I was praying in a house group prayer and worship and pleading with the Lord to show me something ,when it was not forthcoming I surrendered to the Lord and prayed let your will be done and then I saw the Lord walking up a winding road and deep in my spirit I knew He was calling me to follow Him .I did not know where to but I thanked the Lord and said yes. I have been living more in the unseen world than the seen world. Suddenly out of the blue I received a message from Dr Arpit asking me to replace them in Madhipura for a fortnight. I needed to go because things were getting a little intense and I needed sometime to step back and mull some things over. I had no idea why the Lord was taking me back to the old world of EHA , mission hospitals and friends from the yore. Travelling to Madhipura , I continnued to ask the Lord, 'Why this road? I had no idea why I was going where I was going.I am glad I came because I could r
Comments
This is, of course, an extreme case, but I wonder how many patients have to similarly spend money on so many other 'indirect expenses related to hospitalisation.' Ultimately, all these direct and indirect expenses combine to push them below the poverty line.....
Those who have less might actually be more blessed....