The Ortho Shastra Ward

But the OPD바카라™s similarities with other government hospitals end here. This jam-packed zone may be the last place one expects a patient hearing from the doctors, let alone any detailed diagnosis. What makes this department different are the attending doctors바카라”they are incredibly calm in the face of a restless crowd. Consider this: a young man, in his late 20s, is lying outside the hospital ward under a tree. He was admitted after a multiple fracture, but couldn바카라™t be accommodated in the ward because of an acute shortage of beds. Undeterred, the hospital staff smuggles a few essentials everyday for him to recoup. He isn바카라™t on the hospital바카라™s rolls yet, but a house doctor looks him up regularly, sometimes twice a day.

Cut to the third floor ward. It바카라™s 8 in the evening, time for the dinner trolley to make its rounds. There바카라™s a sudden buzz in the area바카라”relatives and attendants to patients, who till now were hanging around in the stairway or the adjoining park, have all come to the party. But the nurses, who otherwise have a reputation for being unceremonious (if not rude), dispel the qualification here and make sure that the patients get their food first. Surprisingly, the entire business is conducted with a polite firmness seldom seen elsewhere. The head nurse, whose freckled face reveals her years in the ward, credits this work culture to Dr Singh.

The 57-year-old doctor says he바카라™s happy that he chose a government hospital over a private one because of the "academic acumen and research facilities a government hospital can offer". He adds: "The sheer number of patients I get to treat here can never be matched anywhere else."

Dr Singh is due for his last round of the day anytime now. There are two men in particular who are waiting for the doctor. One of them is Bachchan Singh, a CRPF jawan who broke his hip bone after a fall from a cliff in Dras. Dr Singh replaced his left hip a week back and is due to operate him again바카라”this time his right hip. Bachchan Singh is nervous and in extreme agony, but Dr Singh바카라™s words have given him a new hope바카라”he knows he won바카라™t be combat-fit again, but is sure the CRPF will take him back again in some other role. His dignity and self-reliance now depend on Dr Singh바카라™s surgical skills. Like Bachchan Singh, there is another patient who waits for Dr Singh바카라™s rounds everyday바카라”a beggar who was brought to the hospital by the Delhi Police. Thanks to Dr Singh, he says, he바카라™s ready to go back and find some work.

Bachchan Singh is today back in his parent unit, but waits for the day of his monthly check-up on Saturdays. He doesn바카라™t mind the thousands other waiting to see Dr Singh바카라”he knows his wait won바카라™t be in vain. Dr Singh바카라™s Maruti 800 will soon arrive, and with it, hope for a thousand. Dr Singh can be contacted at the Orthopaedics Department, Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi; Phone: 011-26165060