Dr Shrivaslava

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  Rishikesh, India
Sunday, May 21, 2006

Doctors here in India do not own clinics, they own hospitals.

I have this knowledge because I spent a day in a hospital.

Jordan and I became friends with Vinod and his son Anand from our last visit. Vinod's family is from Rajastan, their family was the first to set up banking system in India many years ago. Vinod is about 60 years old, he owns 4 retail stores in Rishikesh, the busineess has been running for over 42 years. Vinod has 5 kids, Uma is married and moved out to live with the husband's family. Anand, Ritu, Kajal live with the parents, the youngest and the naughtiest girl, in Vinod's word, lives in another State, just finished her professional CPA training.

On the 3rd day that I arrived Rishikesh, after 3 pretty intense yoga classes within 26 hours, I felt muscle soreness all over my body

Corridor and waiting area of the hospital

.
I feel that my body is tired and hot (which is very rare for me as I always feel cold). Not until Anard told me, I didn't know that I had fever. By that night through the next morning, I got worse and I had a few bad diarrheas. I called Vinod, and he said he would take me to see a doctor. We rided to the hospital via his motorcycle. My first motorcycle ride in India. The hospital is about 5km from where I live.

First of all, you have to use some imagination. Do not create an image of the kind of hospitals that you know of. It's different, indeed very different. For those who have been to local hospitals in China (and not the expat session, but the session for the locals), that image is pretty close. (For Jordan - it's just like our Yunnan experience!)

It's a 3 storey building, the G/F is for out-patient, right at the entrance is the reception, waiting area, then the Doctor's office, and next to it is an Emergency Room.

I followed Vinod, he walked passed all the patients in the waiting hall, the reception and right inside the doctor's office, where the doctor was seeing a patient. Everyone except me seemed to be okay with the situation. The patient even stood up to let me take his seat!
Then the doctor asked us to wait in the Emergency Room / Waiting Room next to his office.

The ER is about 70 sq feet. It has a bed frame, a thin matress with supposed-to-be-white but now washed out bedsheet, pillow, a metal table and a plastic chair

Doctor Shrivaslava

.

Doctor Shrivaslava is about 55 years old. He is a famous cardiologist in Rishikesh, and he has been friends with Vinod's family for over 15 years and he treated Vinod's mother's heart disease. He dresses very down to earth, but talks in a very authoritative and straight manner. He wears big brown plastic frame glasses, sandles and short sleeves shirt. He said that I had gotten some infections in my stomach that caused fever and diarrhea. My body was dyhydrated, I needed to get dripping for medication and sodium.

The doctor then sent some assistants to do the injection. It was pretty scary. They came in, took my hand and were ready to insert the needle - until my friend Helen (who arrived later via Vinod 2nd motorcycle ride) and I screamed for them to stop. I pull out my own wet tissue, and yelled at them to wipe with alcohol cotton!

Seeing how panic we were, Vinod decided that we should move upstairs to the in-patient floor with a private room with balcony, and even got me a room with western style toilet. (but it still doesn't change the fact that they did not use alcohol before injection!)

Helen stayed with me for my inital dripping of 2 bottles of medicine and 2 bottles of sodium water

Home made food from Indian Mom!

. Vinod is kind enough to bring back some home made Indian congee (with rice, mung dal and corriender) for my lunch and dinner at hospital.

Helen left with Vinod after lunch, I tried to sleep in my private room, but apart from me, no one considers that to be a private room - including unknown women and men walking through my room to the balcony to chat or talk on the phone or appreciate the scenery outside, or the janitor's 3 year old daughter talking to me in Indian baby talk, and the doctor's 17 year old daughter Akangsha brought apply juice and asked me about HK. That didn't upset me too much cos I was pretty bored. Indeed I really enjoy the accompany.

At 8pm, although the doctor strongly advised that I should stay in the hospital for the night, I decided to discharge myself because I just could not imagine sleeping there for the night. Both the doctor and Vinod are very supportive and let me go.

For the next 2 days, I have only had home made food from Vinod's wife, with the dripping and the medication from the doctor, I recovered.

I was walking in the market a few days after I recovered

Indian mom cooking

. A man riding on a motorcycle stopped by my side. (I forget to tell you that on the side of the river that I live, walking passengers and stray cows and stray dogs and motorcycles from both directions use the same road, the only road) I couldn't rememeber who he was, but he looked kind and familiar, and he asked about my condition. I said I am fine, and I asked if he would take me to the other side of the river by his motorcycle so it would save me 10 mins walk. He was happy to take me. Then in the split second before I got off, I rememebered that he was Dr Shrivaslava. I thanked him for his kind and compassionate treatment. He waved goodbye.

Although my body suffered, my heart is touched by the amazingly warm, giving and unconditional friendship from Indian people! This will remain as one of my best memories of India.

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Indian mom cooking!

Measuring blood pressure in my private room!

Vinod at his store!

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