It was probably the year of 1988. I had recently joined a Diploma in Ophthalmology
course (I did MS, DNB, and FRCS in Ophthalmology subsequently). I was posted in
Wanless Hospital, Miraj and Dr Ramdev Bhat was my Head of the Department
(HOD) and Post Graduate teacher. Due to my penchant for General Medicine, I
always had a doleful look on my face and was least enthusiastic about continuing in
Ophthalmology.
An elderly widow, staying all by herself in the neighboring state of Karnataka, blind
in both eyes due to mature cataracts was brought into our hospital for cataract
surgery by her son. Her son and daughter-in-law were well-placed officers in The
Central Government and wanted to return to Mumbai as soon as possible. She had
diabetes, hypertension, and ischemic heart disease.
In those days Ophthalmology was a very insignificant branch. Intraocular lens
implantation was just getting popular. We had received an operating microscope and
a few posterior chamber intraocular lenses in the form of donations from the USA
and our HOD was experimenting with it. We suggested Dr. Bhat to implant intraocular
lenses in her eyes. He was feeling jittery because he knew he had to deal with an
overbearing family. Finally, he succumbed to our suggestions.
On the first day after surgery, while I was removing the dressing as a junior doctor,
the intense gaze of the Ophthalmology unit and her family was fixed on me. After I
removed the eye pad, she lifted her eyes to look around the room, said something in
Kannada (being a Maharashtrian, I didn’t understand a word of it) and started crying.
I was petrified but her son translated and conveyed to me that she is ecstatic about
seeing the family and grandchildren after many months. She hugged and kissed the
entire family and kissed my hands too. Tears welled up in my eyes.
Soon she was happily discharged and was asked to come for the other eye surgery.
A few weeks passed by but there was no sign of her return. We blamed the negligent
family. After a month or two an Inland letter arrived from her son stating that she had
passed away due to cardiac ailment within a few days of returning home and the
family was grateful to the Department of Ophthalmology for restoring her vision so
that she could see the family members before her demise.
Shedding tears with the old woman was the defining moment of my life. My flirting
with Ophthalmology became a permanent love affair. It gave me an insight into the
menace of preventable blindness and opened my eyes to the new world of
Ophthalmology. Today Ophthalmology has progressed by leaps and bounds from
what I started as a resident doctor. Cutting-edge technology is at my disposal where
I work presently. On many patients, I perform Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Cataract
Surgery which is available in very few centers across the world. What has also
changed in my 33 years of practice is the tepid emotional responses from patients
and their relatives. Despite doing challenging tasks, genuine appreciation for the
medical fraternity is lacking. People think, What’s so great about it? Doctors do their
job and they are paid for that. Often we see the trust and respect for doctors being
replaced by suspicion and disregard. Although the majority of doctors are upright
and sympathetic toward their patients, some doctors are responsible for bringing
disrepute to the profession by doing unethical practices. This gets highlighted in the
print and electronic media and is shared widely on social media. By and large
corporate hospitals have been blamed for safeguarding their financial interests over
patient’s welfare and this is often a reason for the discourse between a patient and
medical professionals.
According to Daniel Goleman self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy,
and social skills are five key elements of emotional intelligence. Individuals who keep
their cool, who can handle even the most awkward social situations with grace, and
who always seem to make others feel at ease have high emotional quotient and
intelligence. Is the declining emotional quotient contributing to the worsening of the
situation?
Tears signify gratitude as well as empathy. Let them roll out of the eyes more often.
Many people know how to cry, but true tears are prized.
