(3 Jun ’07)
One always hears a
touch of pride (albeit misplaced) in a voice that claims to have ‘heart’. Ie, a
cardiac condition. Or even in those that have diabetes. There’s a lot of
discussion about ‘bypass’ surgeries. It’s advertised through a neighbourhood,
in offices, families, across continents. Even cancer patients speak the word
with a touch of awe, albeit mixed with dreaded feelings. But have you ever
known anyone mention a gastro-intestinal bleed? Ie blood coming out of the
stools, or even without stools, from the digestive tract. It could be an
indication of a lifelong, potentially fatal, really hard to live with
condition, ulcerative colitis or perhaps Crohn’s disease (very similar). And
yet, those patients don’t get the ‘glory’ of someone suffering from brain
tumour. Ulcerative colitis isn’t about ulcers, it’s about an inflammation in/of
the digestive system. It’s a kind of auto-immune disorder that won’t go away
with curd rice or ‘light foods’. It could require steroids, blood transfusions,
very complicated and debilitating surgeries and frequent hospitalization….in
bad cases, of course. What’s sad is that none of these patients gets the
sympathy of the junta around him/her. Most people will give their opinion about
just which quack will work a miracle not encouraging them to take their
medications. I’ve heard enough lay persons crib about the ‘side effects of
steroids’. Or antibiotics. Do they know the main effects? Why not leave medical
opinions to professionals only? Some of us trust chemists more than doctors.
Why do doctors study so much at all? They could have just done a diploma,
opened a dukaan and depended on the wisdom of the pharmaceutical company
representatives. Read the brochure and prescribe, what say? Those with gross
looking injuries may not be in danger. Seemingly innocuous benign tumours that
are detected only with an MRI can be more damage causing, depending on the
location, size and type. Yet, because these patients don’t ‘look ill’, there’s
little to be said about or to them. Think of a person whose optic nerves, the
nerves that allow a person to see by transmitting visual responses, or the
optic lobe, that portion of the brain that ‘reads’ the message the nerve has
brought, that the eye has seen, are not functioning properly. It will appear to
an observer that the person’s eyes are fine. Yet, the person will be blind.
Appearances can be deceptive and reactions of relatives, neighbours, colleagues
quite cruel because a lot of time such patients are considered to be doing
‘natak’.
Recently, someone I
knew in Goa was admitted as a kidney donor. The recipient was/is his/her
brother. S/he didn’t want to give the kidney because s/he was afraid. Till the
surgery, one could see the terror on his/her face, in the body language. Yet,
the relatives’ reaction was: “that was a duty, towards a brother, no?” Not fair
to the donor. Would anyone willingly give an arm, a healthy arm, to someone
else? Giving a kidney is just as brave a thing to do. And if a person isn’t
willing, and s/he’s coerced into giving an organ, I think it’s unfair to
him/her.
As we discuss politics,
religion, I think it’s time we discussed, with study and consideration,
medico-social issues, too. It’s time we contributed less to temples and
churches and more towards education and health. When people are in trouble,
they do turn towards god. They also turn towards loan-sharks and wealthy
relatives. They plead with their HR departments and kind village/neighbourhood
folk. We promote one (God) denying the others their rightful respect. I know
relatives who borrowed money from cousins for a surgery, never to return it.
Was that good religious behaviour? Like certain medical conditions, such
behaviour is also never openly talked about.
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