As a kid, I remember occasionally seeing a big water truck drive into one of my neighbors’ house to supply water. Years later, just a few days back, I witnessed a similar sight. Hence, the problem is far from being solved.[break]
I also recall days, right from my childhood till date, wherein there’s a big hype over scarcity of some basic essentials. All things in short supply are stocked up despite the ridiculously over-hiked prices, and eventually, there’s a shortage.
And let’s not even get to how accustomed we’ve become to the power cuts. In fact, every time the lights don’t go off on time, I nervously start eyeing the clock wondering why the power didn’t go.
Yet, regardless of all these dire times, we always rise up. Like I said, I’m genuinely intrigued. Matters seem to fall so out of context sometimes, and still, somehow, Nepal comes through. Talk about sustainability!
What triggered these thoughts in me of late was a recent episode. This pattern of chaos isn’t just limited to water and petrol and gas and electricity. Also worth noting is another part of this curious chain which includes health facilities or transport networks or educational institutions.
I have personally heard a lot of fusses over how healthcare in Nepal isn’t up to the mark. And I can’t say I disagree completely.
One of the factors, the complainers complain, is that the doctors aren’t good enough. Proof? Remember the time when a thyroid patient ended up with a hysterectomy? I mean how reckless can doctors and the involved parties really be?
Having heard many such stories, I have always feared getting in the wrong hands for any medical consultation. And I’ve encountered quite a few doctors who have confused the hell out of me by asking what I would like to do instead of specifying what I should do. But I have also been lucky to approach certain bright doctors.
Talking to these astute doctors, they have opened my mind to a wide array of things that can go wrong, if not the doctor himself/herself, while examining patients.
Of particular interest to me was hearing how Nepal lags far behind in terms of advances made in technology in the medical sector.
“The Ministry of Health and Population accounts for about two thirds (70%) of the total government spending on health,” read an article, Health System in Nepal: Challenges and Strategic Options published sometime in November 2007. And despite such investments, we still fall short of revolutionary medical equipments.
An acquaintance of mine recently underwent a surgery. And believe it or not, he shared how he had almost opted out of the surgery because his recent ultrasound report showed too little a damage to have him even consider getting the surgery in the first place.
However, after the surgery, the doctor told him how the removed organ had been so close to causing fatal damage that it was timely that he got the surgery done.
Now, who is to blame? I’m sure the doctor who got the ultrasound done was a brilliant one because of the queue my acquaintance told me he endured to finally see the doctor. Also, he had come in highly recommended. However, the machine that showed the results had almost manipulated his decision all for the worse.
It’s not just that. Being a poor country, to begin with, imagining a well-established healthcare system is, if I may say so, being unrealistic.
On my visit to India, I decided to consult an optometrist. I paid around Indian Rs. 900 whereas I would have paid, at most, Rs. 500 in Nepali currency in Kathmandu.
And we all know, even Rs. 500 is quite a sum here and Rs. 250 can also get me a consultation. So how can we imagine the standards to even compare, even if we are just talking about the Indian medical standards as a yardstick?
But regardless of these flaws, I see jam-packed doctors’ clinics. It awes me, let me emphasize again. I’ve visited numerous doctors for numerous reasons and not once have I not had to wait in a long, long queue.
So you see, irrespective of the fact that a doctor can do more harm to me than good, I still go to see him/her very much like you.
Another enthralling fact comes from an incident that happened at our very own Tribhuvan International Airport – that even made the CNN’s Ten Most Hated Airports list. Maybe you remember the time when our only international airport “broke down” because of some construction issues…
Again, I got talking to one of the airport officials about the matter. I condescendingly put the blame on his shoulders – after all, he was also an airport authority.
Patiently, he cleared my “confusion” and told me that the higher-level Ministers are to blame. Okay. So it’s not his team that is at fault, it’s theirs.
But in his defense, I was semi-sold by his story. He was right to say that it’s not on his head if the Ministers don’t allocate enough budgets to get quality concrete to pave the runway. However, my general conclusion was that the whole system was at fault.
And in no way was this incident big enough to dampen my Nepali spirit. Today, while landing at or departing from the very runway, I barely remember the incident that happened a while back. Frankly, I think I’m better off not remembering it.
Let’s move on to education now. I meet many children who take pride in saying “liberry” and many more who have no idea what “pustakalaya” is.
Moreover, not just the quality of education, but the quantity of it is also at stake. What with all the power cuts and the bandas, it’s amazing how the course gets completed on time. Besides, so what if most kids in Nepal do their endless assignments by candlelight in the dark? Florence Nightingale did so too, right?
And that’s okay. We don’t need to revise our old syllabus. We don’t mind our kids mindlessly mugging up things God knows they won’t be able to call to mind a few years from their graduation. We are just proud of the fact that they go to English-medium educational institutions.
The fact of the matter is, we complain; but then again, we settle. So in spite of all these complications, Nepal seems to be going on finely, thank you!
I do realize that most of the times we have no other alternatives. Thus, we’re pretty much forced to go to the same doctors, use the only international airport we have, or settle for an average education.
It’s also well understandable that going abroad for every petty thing isn’t realistic unless we have some serious money to burn. So we accept what we get.
Besides, the way I remember, to conform is something we learn from our schooldays. School, if nothing else, taught me how to plaster a smile on my face and accept whatever was thrown my way.
Be it unqualified doctors, unreliable transport system, unfathomable educational system, they all find a safe haven in Nepal.
It sometimes appears to me that no amount of failure can get in our way. How, really, are we moving ahead? Yes, it awes me deeply that we move at all!
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