(15 Oct ’06)
I began a career at 38.
Like most of my generation, through college, ‘work’ had been topmost in my
mind, but much though I wanted to, I couldn’t.
So I began to write. I
freelanced. Initially secretly. I opened envelopes, clipped several together,
and made them into homemade ‘notebooks’ so that I wouldn’t have to buy paper. I
wrote when no one was at home, in between cooking, tidying and other chores.
Then I mailed the articles/stories by ordinary post to publications. When
things began to get published, there was no way I could keep it a secret. And
to his credit, my husband realized that my ‘need’ to work was a basic thing: he
enrolled me in a typing class and babysat when I attended it. He paid the fees
for a journalism course by correspondence and helped me with my homework,
cooked sometimes when I had a deadline to meet.
Wherever, whenever I
could, through the different transfers, I took up a part time job close to my
home. I worked for the UNICEF, as a librarian, a teacher, and, of course, I
wrote. When we came to Goa, late in life though it was, I could begin a
‘career’ of sorts. I joined a five star hotel as a guest relations officer. Goa
didn’t discriminate by age. I was taken in with no experience in that field and
taught the job by eager younger colleagues. I have much to thank Goa for. (An
aside: I recall two women, both doctors, discussing something about Panaji
being different from Goa-city. I interrupted to tell them about Goa being a
state, and Panaji its capital and their reaction?: What does she know, she’s
only a receptionist!! Pah! My opinion of doctors sank then. Fortunately, I
subsequently have come across highly qualified medical professionals who are
humble enough to accept/ acquire facts from anyone. Their thirst for knowledge
overrides all prejudices.) Had it not been for that opportunity, I might not
have become a ‘career’ person. I made customer service my profession. I studied
tourism trends, the needs of the hospitality sector, selection and training
processes in the service industry, methods of gathering, sorting and analyzing
customer feedback….stuff.
It took me to the innards of the highly technical healthcare industry.
Now, five years later, the industry has accepted that Patient Satisfaction has
as much to do with medical care as other unrelated topics like what food will
the attendant get, whether there’s adequate parking space, whether the doctor
is accessible, whether the staff at the counter is polite, and more. I’m happy
to be part of the pioneers in that field, late though I entered it.
Now, coming to Goa and
medical tourism. It is a fledgling field. Some players are going to scout
around to invest in the state to make use of the state’s fame, and
infrastructure. There are going to be tie-ups between private hospitals and
hotels. But for that, one golden rule Goa must follow is Be Professional. If
the best brains, skills, doctors, nurses, technicians, therapists have to be
attracted, the best managers must be employed, and no excuses like ‘he is
related to so and so’ will work.
Recently, a Goan
surgeon I know attended an interview held by a private hospital in Goa. He was
put off by the lack of courtesy accorded to him, the lack of seriousness….not
just the junior staff, but even the very senior persons/investors behaved like
they just didn’t care. The gentleman returned, perturbed. It’s going to be hard
to work in a culture like that, he commented sadly.
We Goans need to change our
attitudes to work if we are to succeed in health tourism….that’s the next big
thing….in fact to even sustain what we have. Better late than never.
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