CHRISTIAN MEDICAL COLLEGE VELLORE

........WHEN AUNT IDA BEGINS TO WEEP !!
(Part-III)

Transparency is a word that in its absolute & practical meaning brings about so many positive things. This author has already appreciated whole heartedly a transparent system of depositing cash. But what about the cash-officers' attitude towards their affixing a date for doctor's appointment ? It is understandable that they have been authorized to do so utilizing the best of their skills - synchronizing the need of patients and the availability of doctor's turn (for that they find the accurate position on computer's monitor). Of course, there remains opportunity of mutual exchange of views between the officer & the patient towards the suitability of appointment-date & finally it is reached with. And this is the stage where the policy-makers have failed in achieving their aim.

See, what is appearing on the computer's monitor is not at all visible to the patient. So, what the officer is saying about doctor's availability - observing on monitor- is the last resort before him to opt. He opts it & gets fooled --- staying a number of days in hotels or lodges or rented houses and spending his hard-earned money on things which ought not to have required had the real picture been presented before him.

Yes, this is what is really happening now-a-days in CMC Vellore. There are a number of such officers who deny the real availability to the needy ones & offer the same to the ones who can "make them happy" through their agents. These agents remain wandering within the hospital campus in search of their 'customers'. They are so expert in their business that they can well smell the whereabouts of such 'customers'. Suppose, someone is murmuring to have failed in getting a suitable appointment & is now apparently seen making plan to go back without treatment, there is every chance that he would be trapped by some such agent.

Maybe, this author is taken in the negative perspective. In that case she accepts the challenge to prove her proposition. But as this is not such a thing that could be done exposing her steps in public what she requires is a close-door secret strategy to be fully supported by the authorities concerned.

Let us now see the situation with a different angle - the angle of transparency. That is, apart from the scrutiny as to whether the picture so sketched is true or false, why can't there be a transparency of doctors' availability ? True, doctors too are human beings & there must be a limitation of their work as well - and this definitely requires a policy. Yet, within the ambit of this policy, doctors' availability on a particular date can't be displayed is not quite understandable.

There are certain departments that does not allow the officers to give appointments denoting the name of the concerned doctor rather to mention - " consultant I " or " consultant II " or likewise. Maybe, this is due to an apprehension of the desired doctor's sudden requirement on EMERGENCY DUTY. Even in such cases a policy can be well-settled that a doctor may fail to attend some patient, in spite of an appointment given to him in his name, under emergent circumstances. This author is not aware as to what the actual reason towards the prevailing system is. However she, in the apparent situation, is bound to think that it is they (the doctors) themselves who want to maintain a good distance from the patients & their needs. This is perhaps the one & only great difference between the vision of the doctors now & that of Dr. Ida along with a number of her companions belonging to this soil & abroad.

One can ask in this context, " Were it such things that were dreamt of by Dr. Ida or a number of her companions who got inspired from her before throwing themselves into the severe hardships of life ? And, that too, when there were no electricity, no roads, no electric-bulbs (or tubelights), no electric fans, no air-conditioners, no comfortable quarters to live in, no drinking-water availability, no transportation etc.,etc. ? To serve humanity was the only aim before them which they did for the cause of God. For achieving that aim they not only liked to interact with the common mass but also embraced them with full of their love, affection & regard regardless of caste, creed, sex or religion. This temple of love & service ( CMC ) was not erected overnight for the fulfillment of someone's luxury but is an outcome of Dr. Ida's (& a handful of her great companions') tireless efforts towards the call of Jesus Christ. It is needed to tell their stories to the generations to come. Prior to that, it is needed to tell them to our present generation. And foremost of all, it is needed to tell them to our doctors, our nurses, our medical record officers, our cash-officers, our secretaries, our compounders & all our other staff-members at CMC because if they are not knowing them they are missing something big in their life & nevertheless they are committing sin. I propose the authorities to make all the relevant publications available for everyone at a most-subsidized price as they would help build a strong character within them - a timely need indeed ! I rather propose to make them a compulsory reading somehow.

Before I conclude quoting below a beautiful song that aunt Ida ever liked, I wish to thank our P.R.O. at CMC without whose co-operation I would not have been able to get my copy of " BE THOU MY VISION " (By Dr. Carol E. Jameson - a former American doctor of CMC Vellore who accompanied Dr. Ida in her dreaming & nourishing of this institution) perhaps on a subsidized price.

BE THOU MY VISION,

O LORD OF MY HEART;

NAUGHT BE ALL ELSE TO ME,

SAVE THAT THOU ART,

THOU MY BEST THOUGHT,

BY DAY OR BY NIGHT,

WAKING OR SLEEPING,

THY PRESENCE MY LIGHT,

BE THOU MY WISDOM,

AND THOU MY TRUE WORD;

I EVER WITH THEE AND THOU WITH ME LORD;

THOU MY GREAT FATHER,

I THY TRUE SON;

THOU IN ME DWELLING,

AND I WITH THEE ONE.

BE THOU MY BATTLE SHIELD,

SWORD FOR THE FIGHT;

BE THOU MY DIGNITY,

THOU MY DELIGHT;

THOU MY SOUL'S SHELTER,

THOU MY HIGH TOWER;

RAISE THOU ME HEAVENWARD,

O POWER OF MY POWER.

RICHES I HEED NOT,

NOR MAN'S EMPTY PRAISE,

THOU MINE INHERITANCE,

NOW & ALWAYS:

THOU & THOU ONLY,

FIRST IN MY HEART,

HIGH KING OF HEAVEN,

MY TREASURE THOU ART.

HIGH KING OF HEAVEN,

MY VICTORY WON,

MAY I REACH HEAVEN'S JOYS,

O BRIGHT HEAVEN'S SUN !

HEART OF MY OWN HEART,

WHATEVER BEFALL,

STILL BE MY VISION,

O RULER OF ALL ."

...................... Savitree
(At Vellore on a study-tour)