After the end of a long busy day as I sat to look at some videos, I got a call from Dr Reshma. She informed me that a child who is taking treatment at our centre needed an urgent appendicectomy – removal of his appendix which had become infected and inflamed. It was a Saturday night. The patient had travelled from a place 200km away from Bangalore and reached a prominent Government Hospital in Bangalore for the urgent surgery. However, there was no surgeon available at the hospital. We spoke to one of the doctors in that hospital and confirmed that the hospital was not in a position to do much for the child. The Government hospital recommended that the child be shifted to another Government hospital.
The reason for Dr Reshma’s call was that this situation was like a replay of several others we have faced over last few years. We have been unfortunate to lose far too many children suffering from thalassemia whenever they have been admitted for taking treatment – for what seemed like minor ailment at one of the several popular public hospitals. The family was too poor to afford care outside public healthcare setup. I requested her to confirm if the doctor who wanted to refer the child to the other Government hospital was sure that the child would be operated there. In few minutes it was confirmed that there was no such assurance.
We had thought over how we want to manage such situations. The action plan kicked in. We spoke to Dr Chetan Ginigeri, Paediatrician at People Tree Hospitals and requested his help. Like always, it only took a call to him to resolve the situation. He assured us that the needful will be done and asked us to organise for the patient’s transfer.
While the child was being transferred, we got a call from the father who was very concerned. He shared he had come to Bangalore with Rs. 10,000/- in his pocket and that’s all the money he had. He was not sure if he could afford treatment at the hospital. We assured the family that at the present moment what was needed to be done is to ensure that the child gets right treatment. In-spite of the fact that People Tree Hospitals go out of the way to support our patients charging bare minimal fee, we knew that the father would never be able to pay for the treatment. What we also knew is that sending him in the care of paediatrics team at People Tree Hospitals was our best bet to save this life. Having lost several of our angels in similar situations before, how money would be arranged did not seem like the most important of the questions.
Child has a smooth surgery. The mother and the father were all smiles. The father has committed to contribute whatever he can over sometime. He is back home. Hats off to the wonderful team of doctors at People Tree Hospitals, we finally have a team which we can rely upon when needed the most. We are happy that this one time – at least this one time – we are not spending the days looking back at what more could have been done.