Adding Value to Life and Living

Doctors: Adding value to life and living

 

‘Were you nervous, worried ... about the root canal treatment?’ Dr. Vishal asked, as we began with our second appointment. ‘No’, was all I said, as I reclined into the dentist’s chair. The view from the third floor is spectacular. The swaying greenery of the tree tops, despite the heat of May in Delhi, was spectacular!

 

On my very first appointment with Dr. Vishal, I realized that his questions had a way of putting me at complete ease. ‘You, know who you look like?’ he began, ‘Rajdeep Sardesai’, I said with a smile. ‘Yes, and some other person too’, he added ... ‘Do you know Girish Karnad?’ He asked, I nodded, ‘It’s my grey hair ...’, I volunteered. ‘It’s your eyes too’ he said. ‘Interesting name you have, Anthony’, ‘Anthony Gonsalves’, ‘Have you seen the movie?’ ... ‘Any pain?’ ... ‘spit ...’

 

Lying on your back on a dentist’s chair, with the light on your face and all open to the gaze of the Dentist, I wonder, how a patient feels. With memories and images of grinding, whirring, spitting and all of it repeated many times over ... the monotony of dentistry must surely take a toll on a dentist.
 

‘Do, you know how many patients, Dentist’s treat in America ... just two per day ... and here we treat eight patients, per day’ ‘Your shoulders, are strained ...’ he added. ‘By the time we are 45 or so, we end up dealing with far lesser patients ...’ he mentioned. I’d never contemplated the physical strain dentist’s had/have to cope with.

 

‘We will be going in for a RCT and that should take care of the problem permanently’ he reassured me. ‘You will feel a slight pain, are you ready, one ... two ... three ... was it painful’, ‘not too bad’, I answered’. ‘The injection is to numb those parts for an hour or so, so you will not feel any pain during the treatment ...’

Meticulously, he went about his craft ... a word now and then ... to me, to the dentist across our cubicle ... a request for a cup of tea ... generously interspersed with more reassurances ... As I lay back, settling into the rhythm of spitting, wiping and laying back ... I kept asking myself ... ‘what keeps these Doctors going?’ Complexity, diversity and not to mention the monotony ... that marks their engagement with patients ... would call for individual responses of Doctors, during and after their hours at the clinic.

 

The teeming crowds at AIIMS, Delhi ... patients young and old, along with their loved ones ... instantly brings to mind an ancient Arabic saying, ‘He who has health, has hope and with hope you have everything...’ The unpredictable nature of health and wealth is enough to drive most human beings to despair. Doctors, I realized after my treatment at AIIMS, are uniquely positioned to construct, hand hold and help us bridge ... the vast and deep chasm between despair and hope ... How do they do it?

 

‘If you experience any pain, you may take this tablet ... you can call too’ he suggested as he saw me off after our first and second appointment.

Grateful, for the kindness, competence and commitment of Dr. Vishal, I soon realized, that I began to view the countless patients milling around the various Departments at AIIMS, more lovingly and with a renewed sense of hope. A hope, reinforced with the conviction – Doctors, engaged in, the restoration of faith, add value to countless lives.
 
Walking out of the dental clinic at AIIMS, I remembered my niece, Shereen. After completing her schooling last year, she cajoled my sister into allowing her to enrol for the BDS programme – the first in our family. Into the first year of her training, she tells me of some of the many things they do in her Dental College and of all the seminars she gets to attend and ...yak... yak...yak...!

While walking out of AIIMS at around 02.00PM in the blazing heat of May, with a smile on my face, I recalled, Dr. Vishal ... if he could surround himself with a crowd of people with a few cameras in their hands ... he could easily pass off for Shah Rukh Khan ... I’m not quite sure as to how star stuck he is of the great actor, but with so many crazies ... thronging ‘mannat’ in Bandra every day, Dr. Vishal, your doubling up for the great Khan could be a wonderful respite ...

It was another thought though ... that, I chose to dwell on ... ‘what kind of questions would Shereen craft for her patients?’