It was just another day, as any other, of reading news of human helplessness at fighting the Coronavirus Pandemic. One particular story was no different from the dozens of sad stories that are reported on a daily basis on news media or shared on social media. The heart rending story of the struggle of common man in finding medical help, the story of despair of our health system.
In short, a young man went from one hospital to another trying to find urgent medical help for his sick father. Wherever he went, he was turned away and was told to try elsewhere. As the oxygen was running out of the cylinder in the ambulance, the man even tried to resuscitate his father, but that didn't help. Finally, the father was declared dead as the day was breaking. The ordeal didn't end there. When he tried to find a place for his father's body in a mortuary, he couldn't find one. With the help of some friends, the family preserved the body on ice. Finally, when all the arrangements were made, they cremated the body.
This story was exceptional because a man posted a video on YouTube sharing his story of horror, helplessness and desperation.
We can very well understand how much one would be shaken up on losing a parent. Even during those grieving moments, the man decided to create a video and shared details of the ordeal he and his family went through, for hours together, in trying to get medical attention for his father. They went from one hospital to another without much success, finally his father succumbed to his illness.
As he explains his story, we can relate hundreds and thousands of similar cases the country has been witnessing for the past few months.
But the exceptional thing about this video is, without blaming anyone, the man coveys some very important messages: Please stop taking your health for granted. Please ensure that you take care of yourselves and your family.Protect yourselves. Be safe. We pray that no other family or child is put in such a situation. Please ensure that you take care of yourselves and your family.
This story and many such stories raise many questions.
- Why have we reached such a situation where we cannot find medical help when it is needed?
- Has this pandemic exposed the utter weakness, unpreparedness and helplessness of our healthcare system?
- This is not the first time the world has faced a pandemic or a warlike emergencies. Was our health care system prepared with expertise and resources needed to tackle the epidemic?
- This "Deadly Microscopic Thing" was not home grown, it was brought from outside through international travelers. Were enough controls in place to stop it at the ports of entry itself?
- Even after discovering few cases, did we do enough to tackle and contain it when the number of cases was controllable?
I don't know the answers to these questions and I would certainly not want to speculate on the answers. But one thing I know, "we are on our own".
It is time to think that we are back to the centuries, in a huge village with very limited medical services, the village doctor located very far away from our places. Let us think that we may or may not get the limited medical help promptly when it is needed.
It is time to get back to "Grandma's Nuska (recipe)". It is time to get back to the time tested "home remedies".
Above all, there never was a time than now, to become humble and prostrate to our creator. It is time to pray for yourself, your family that are near and far.
Pray as you have never prayed before for God's mercy! We certainly need it now like we never needed before!
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Media Report: https://newsmeter.in/banjara-hills-man-denied-admission-by-6-hospitals-dies-in-transit/
Video: https://youtu.be/wp_6rx7tD1U
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