Humanity's inhumanity

A very happy quirk of fate - my daughter's best friend Amulya, shares a birthday with her. In fact they were born an hour apart, in two different hospitals, in two different cities. Despite living opposite each other, Amulya's mom Divya and I never really spoke to each other, till our toddlers decided to break the ice for us. From then on its was regular play dates, common eating sessions, occassional afternoon sleepovers and more.
Through it all Divya and me became good friends and have stood by each other in a lot of sticky situations. This morning Divya came home totally distraught - her father had met with an accident in Chennapatna and had two blood clots in the brain. Doctors now say that the chances of his survival are strong... but time will tell.
However, what Divya had to tell me about the ordeal was even worse. Her father skidded off his bike and injured himself at around 3.30 pm. He was taken to a government hospital. Two hours later, when the family reached there, they found him just lying around totally unattended. His wounds had just been cleaned and he was writhing and delirious with pain. Immediately an ambulance was hired for him to be brought to Bangalore. In the meanwhile, the doctors (????) at this government hospital claimed to have conducted scans and other tests and demanded that Rs 10,000 be paid or else they would not discharge the patient. Divya had no chance but cough up the money, it was the question of her father's life. As soon as the discharge papers came through, the officials wanted them off the premises, they weren't even allowed to wait within the hospital till the ambulance arrived. Only after it came did they mention in the passing that the government hospital had its own ambulance and that they fact that the family had called a private one would damage their reputation.
Uncle was brought to NIMHANS, the bastion of trauma medical care. What Divya describes next is akin to women in labour being beaten at government hospital for crying out loud. Uncle was put on drips, and once again left alone. Doctors (if thats what they are) came in to examine him and kept patting him hard on the wounded shoulder and were trying to yank it out of the shirt very harshly to so called check on the wounds. Next they claimed that an operation may be necessary but that they would wait till daybreak to observe. Early this morning, a nurse comes in to say that an accident victim who is delirious should get his teeth brushed and have a bath, incase there is an operation scheduled for the day. How much more insensitive can you get.
Finally uncle was shifted to a much more reliable Abhaya Hospital where he is recieving treatment.
Government hospitals in most countries are often very well if not equally equipped with the needs of the trade. In India, besides lacking doctors or rather doctors who truly care, we lack the capability of empathising with someone in trouble. Divya said that all around her were accident victims with no one to care for them simply because they had no money. What you see in the movies is actually a reality.