I would like to
first say that I have full faith in doctors there. They all seem to be doing
their job perfectly well. We would like to thank Dr. Puri, Dr. Mistri and Dr.
Parmar for their help while our various visits and stay at the
hospital.
I would also like to
compliment the administration on the hospital management and general
administration. We felt that there were proper system in place which ensured
that all the patients are monitored properly even with the shift of nursing and
support staff changing every time. We also noticed that all the doctors involved
in the case normally talked to each other about various patients and seemed to
recognise them and their case history even when they are no longer meeting them
regularly. All these things coupled with experienced doctors and medical
fraternity there make the Tata Memorial most respected hospital for cancer in
India.
However I was dissatisfied with nursing and support staff at the
hospital. I also filled a feedback form in OPD but haven’t received any response
as of now. I even sent a feedback via email to them.
I would like to
point out 2 issues with the staff:
*1. Lack of
empathy** - Usually nobody smiles and talks in a pleasing manner totally
oblivious of the fact that such little things can make patient’s stay in
hospital much more pleasant. Nurses used to come to the ward room at 4’o clock
in the morning and used to ask patients to wake up and take bath and be ready.
When my wife was not ready one morning, matron who came on her morning round
said to her that. "You should behave like a patient".
Now I really don’t understand the meaning of this sentence. I mean my wife had
ICD inserted in her chest and she couldn’t take bath without anybody’s
assistance and I think its perfectly normal for patients to do that or behave
that way.
*2. Too many
rules** - Everybody be it nurse, sweeper or wardboy used to preach
patients and their relatives about one or other rule. Same matron asked us to
remove pictures of our new born baby girl from the top
of bedside light. I placed a few postcard size pictures of our baby on the top
of light. I didn’t stick or paste them so I think I was not spoiling or damaging
anything there. Those were just 4 pictures put there so that my wife can
see them and be happy. Our baby was just 3 months old than and naturally having
her pictures around would have made my wife happy but I had to remove them. I
didn’t understand the rationale behind it, but I guess we need to obey everybody
when we are in hospital.
I noticed a stray
cat roaming freely in the ward and staff used to feed her with milk. Now I love
cats, they are cute animals but then she was sneezing in the corridors and even
spilled the milk there. With some patients undergoing chemotherapy, I think it
puts them in risk of catching some kind of infection from cat. What I don’t
understand is that when nurses and staff are so particular about rules why they
are allowing a cat to roam freely in hospital and when they are so emotion-less
and unsympathetic that they can’t even allow pictures of baby at the bedside of
mother, why they are so sympathetic for a cat.