Lead healthy lives or lose your organs

Waiting outside a Toronto hospital for three long hours reminds one how important good health is; that getting old sucks, and banning some relatives helps keep your sanity.

It was mostly old folk that came out of the discharge door of the huge hospital. One cute old lady had what is called a walker-rollator, and it had flip-up brakes that stop the walker with wheels from rolling away down the street, with the reluctant old lady in tow.

It also quickly turned into a chair, as she stopped and sat in its comfy-looking seat bag.

Suddenly, one woman in her hospital gown, rushed out from the exit-only door, went into a corner and lit up a cigarette, though a large sign on the wall warned that this was a smoke-free place and that people who wish to smoke should go some distance away.

Years ago while visiting a hospital for a story, I saw this guy on a wheelchair with a drip attached, wheeling himself out and then lighting a cigarette. At that time, I wondered who could have slipped him the pack; maybe a kindly friend, brother or uncle, who couldn’t stand him suffering withdrawal symptoms from his addiction.

The staff door opened automatically and a man in full PPE (personal protective equipment) came out, took off his face mask and dropped it in the trash can and started sipping from the beverage bottle in his hand.

His blue-coloured, transparent, disposable surgical cap dropped on the ground, but he did not notice as he walked away.

There was a long line of huge SUVs and trucks waiting in front of the hospital entrance, that had come to pick up these folk as visitors were not allowed in because of Covid restrictions.

I was sitting here outside the west wing, on a bench, waiting for my son who had undergone a laparoscopic procedure to get his gall bladder removed. This tiny pear-shaped organ was swamped with stones and sludge, that was giving him acute tummy pain.

I learnt this is a common surgery in these times of cheap and tasty fast food that is crammed with sugar and salt, and because of unhealthy living (sitting for long hours and not enough exercise).

It is as common as a coronary angioplasty, a procedure that removes blood clots from the heart arteries, which form due to high cholesterol and obesity, and not eating nutritious foods.

(A few tips to save your gallbladder: cut out the bad fats and sugars from your meals, eat frequent small vegetarian and gluten-free meals, and drink about six glasses of water. The gallbladder’s job is to store and release bile that helps digest fats. Once that is removed you may suffer from diarrhoea and bloating for some time).

The one thing that my wife was mad about was that hospitals do not allow family members inside, which is because of the recent upsurge in Coronavirus cases.

But that’s a good thing, because most hospitals in India are like busy railway stations with tons of family members hanging around all over the place at all times, even though there are fixed visiting hours.

The alarming part of this caring family visits is that many of them take matters in their own hands.

During the disastrous second wave of Covid infections across India, doctors, nurses and paramedical staff showed amazing resilience and went out of their way to take care of their patients.

But if things unfortunately did not go right with the patient, family members would beat up the doctor and trash the hospital equipment. Doctors are now demanding better protection.

North America and Europe have made huge advances in medicine and health care that have helped people live longer. Unfortunately, people have used these positives of modern medicine to lead unhealthier lives.

The medical facilities in Canada are swamped because of such people and because of cutbacks in medical care.

A joke goes that a man waking up after surgery sees a couple of people near his bed that he does not recognise. “We are not visitors,” says one grumpy woman. “We are waiting for your bed.”

Mahmood Saberi is a storyteller and blogger based in Bengaluru, India. Twitter: @mahmood_saberi