Visit To A Hospital....

It was Monday. The toothache started on Sunday night. The right molar pain soon spread to the whole mouth, and all the teeth seemed to be hurting. I woke up in the morning and decided to go to the nearby dental college. The rain had started. Although the O.P. ward opens at 8 o'clock, my husband dropped me in his car at the gate of the college hospital at 8 o'clock. After the age of 60, I was very reluctant to go to the hospital. I was afraid to go to the hospital even for a check-up because I was afraid of the normal procedures like blood tests, scans, ICU, and so on.

It is said that you only know a toothache and a stomachache when you feel it. I often suffer from these two pains. My brother once did an endoscopy for a stomachache and told me that he had seen an ulcer inside my stomach and told me that I must take pills. The ulcer was cured by taking antacid pills for a year. After that for 20 years, abdominal pain was not a problem for me, but if I ever felt pain, I immediately took PAN tablets.

It is said that there is a lot of connection between toothache and stomachache. Today's dentists currently follow a procedure called root canal treatment. After root canal treatment at the age of 50 and 60, the treated tooth is covered by fixing a cap. That is the costliest treatment. I also thought I should try to avoid this anyway but couldn't.

Now I am 70 years old. When I went to the OP counter and said that I had come to get treatment for a toothache, the lady sitting behind the counter wrote my name, age, address, phone number, etc. in a register and tapped the keyboard of the computer in front of her to register and gave me a card like a visiting card. She told me to pay 20 rupees. I immediately opened my purse and started looking for change for 20 rupees. Because the counter on the side is the bill payment counter. A dental college student was struggling for a long time to pay a bill through Google Pay. Luckily, I had change so I paid the money and went to room number one as told by the lady at the counter.

Number one is the section for BDS students. After checking my teeth, two students there said, "There is nothing to worry about; you go to room number 8 on the first floor above." I also went up the stairs and stood in front of room number 8.

To my left in front of the glass doors was a table with two computers on top of it. Female employees were sitting in front of the computers.

This dental college and its affiliated hospital are located on the outskirts of Chennai city. Being a suburban area, you cannot expect the city modern, fast-paced, English style, or anything here. All the female employees are from this suburb. Their manner, dress, and speech all expressed it. They are a bit more advanced than the women I saw at the counters below. Because their job was only to write in the register and enter it into the computer, the rest of the time both of them were looking at their respective cell phones. Being a suburban area, it seemed that the college and hospital management did not enforce the cell phone ban on them. Fortunately, none of the dental students use cell phones.

I was waiting with other patients in the seats outside, and the doctor registered for me opened the glass door and called me by my name. It is understood that number 8 is a section for MDS students. I laughed so hard that I felt like I had been promoted from BDS junior to MDS senior within an hour. The doctor checked my tooth and said that an x-ray must be taken. I said okay and went to the x-ray section.

The X-ray facility is in a separate section outside the college on the ground floor. When I got there, there was a female employee sitting at the counter. It seemed to be the same as it had been in the early days. There is no computer on the table; there is only a register note. The female employee is middle-aged. She asked me to wait in the chair because there was a person before my entry waiting there. I sat in the chair and waited.

Then another female employee came there. Calling her, the employee sitting in front of the table bent down, took out a plastic cover from the bag placed behind the table and handed it to her, "You haven't eaten breakfast in the morning! Eat this tiban and work. Whoever hasn't eaten breakfast... tell them to come and get it from me." The person who said "Sarikka" took the bag and went away. It was understood that there is a canteen inside the college campus where morning tiffin and midday meals are provided to all the doctors, students, and staff at a very low price.

After a while, an elderly female employee entered with a bottle of Phenyl and a mop in her hand. It is understood that the staff will clean the rooms. When she saw her, she asked, "Did you eat tiffin in the morning?" She said, "Yesmma." After leaving the things in her hand in the inner room, she sat down on a chair placed on the side in front of the table. Both started talking.

"See... I heard that everyone has come to your husband's cremation!"

"Yes, even my Sambandhi's family members came with Sambandhi's brother and sister also. Death unites everyone together."

The women's speech showed a maturity that they understood the reality of life. It was raining continuously. The person who is waiting before me started muttering, "I can't bear the toothache. When will they come to take x-rays..." he finished, and a doctor came and called his name, he got up and quickly went into the x-ray room. Shortly after he came out, the female employee sitting in front of the table asked him to go to the payment counter after receiving the name card and x-ray from him, registering in the register and giving instructions for paying for the x-ray. At this point, I got up and went to the x-ray room when the doctor called my name. When I was told to pay for the x-ray too, went to the payment counter and paid the money, they again said to me, "Go to number eight and see the doctor."

I also went to the doctor, and she gave me the root canal treatment. No toothache now. Before leaving, I saw a statue placed in the middle of the hall. It is a statue of Goddess Saraswati seated in a white dress with a smile on her face and a veena in her hand. I left the hospital with full hope, and calm thoughts, and started walking home.