Friday, March 7, 2014

Kerala Medicare – good nurses, doctors, hospitals



Three hospitals were involved in treating my recent medical problem. My good blogger friend ER Ramachandran has suggested in a comment on Life without computer - 2 that I write about my experience, particularly about the hospitals, the doctors and nurses.

Well, here we go.

In spite of my wife being there I paid more attention to the nurses than I would have normally. The reason was to confirm what I already knew. You must have read recently the comment on Kerala nurses that a politician in North India had made. According to him the nurses from Kerala are dark and ugly and that a person would find it difficult to address them ‘sisters’.

In the three hospitals that I spent time, almost all the nurses were fair and good looking. Even the darker ones were attractive and pleasant. I feel that none of them would bother to give the comic politician a second look. This quote should be enough to give a clearer picture: “The high literacy rate and access to modern and progressive education help the state churn out the most sought-after Nursing workforce in the global labour market.” (Nurses Abroad,10 Jan 2013)

According to Emerging Kerala Human Development Indicators (HDI) in the State “are the highest in the country and even on par with some developed nations.” Kerala’s longevity rate the highest and infant mortality rate the lowest in the country.  The birth rate of  40% is lower than the country’s average. Even maternal mortality rate (1.3/1000) is the least in India.

According to Wikipedia, Kerala has the largest government network in India – 2700 medical institutions offering 330 beds per 100,000 population. Apart from this there is a large number of private hospitals, covering even the villages. They include several multi-speciality and super speciality ones. Almost all of them are manned by experts. As a result, medical tourism is developing into a growing phenomenon in Kerala.

Actually, this makes the choice of hospital when one gets sick rather difficult particularly in a city like Cochin. I picked the ones where I knew the doctors. That helped – comfortable rooms, best medical attention and good food!

10 comments:

Ramachandran said...

Yes.Yes.My father in law was allowed to walk in the ICU in an Angamaly hospital recently,he fell down and broke the spine.I agree it has nothing to do with the beauty of our nurses!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Rama Chandran, sorry to hear this. A competent nurse, beautiful or otherwise, should have been taking care.

Ramachandran said...

The saddest part is they tried to charge us for treating the broken spine too.Then I spoke to the Bishop.

Unknown said...

In my opinion you should have sued the hospital.

Ramachandran said...

We didnt coz they backtracked on spine.Another incident:my brother in law was advised bypass in Perumbavur,Edappally,EKM North big hospitals.He escaped coz North doctor went to Singapore on holiday.I took him to Saji Kuruttukulam of Med Trust.He diagnosed it as a thyroid problem!thyroid deficiency create blocks.

ER Ramachandran said...

The asinine comment made by the politician matches with the policy of his Party which took to heels unable to govern Delhi at the slightest pressure! When the politician will be taken to asses the functioning, rather non-functioning of his brain, a qualified Nurse from Kerala will be needed to place the EEG leads properly.Most of them will search for his brains elsewhere;)
ERR

Ramachandran said...

Please see my post Krishna Menon as a Headload worker in my blog,Hamlet in Monsoon.U hav bn mentioned there

Ramachandran said...

Another incident:a person was admitted to the Nettur big hospital.After his death,they gave the relatives a bill which charged them 3 lakhs for a bypass.They never knew of a bypass!

Anonymous said...

Hi AT sir;
I trust you are in sound health.
Kind Regards;