Times and Titles

Times change and titles change with times. In our institute, who used to be assistant Dean became Deputy Dean; who used to be senior AMO became Assistant Dean; who used to be junior AMO became senior AMO, probably who used to be a nobody became junior AMO. The job descriptions did not change, but there was a feel-good effect, which was probably supposed to improve efficiency and work output. In the medical council business, who used to be Inspector became Assessor. The job description did not change. Many of these individuals continued to feel like and behave like creatures of a far superior race, throwing their weight around, forgetting what they were in real life when they were not Assessors. Perhaps it was their turn to treat others badly to get even with the world for the abuses they had received in their lives. That reminds of one memorable inspection in our institute in the past. There was this assessor fellow who was said to be a terror. The team arrived late. Then they ordered all staff members and residents to assemble in the main auditorium for a roll call, as if the hospital was without any patients to treat at 11 A.M. When this guy was told that all persons could not reach for the roll call, because they were in theaters operating, he said rudely time would tell if they were in theaters or homes. “Resident doctors in homes at 11 A.M.? Sir, it is a joke, but he did not look like a joker.” Said one staff member. After the roll call he visited places, with senior staff members in tow. “When he found wards containing eighty patients where allotted beds were forrty, but there were eight beds kept vacant for new admissions, he counted vacant beds as eight out of forty, discounting all other occupied beds because they were not numbered. He is simply out of this world” said another staff member. No comment was warranted. So I kept quiet. “Sir, when he saw our OT, he said it looked like a godown and wondered if any cases were actually done there. If cases were not done in our hospital, were they being done in his hospital and flown back to us for postoperative care?” This staff member sounded quite angry, and I sympathized with her. I would have felt the same way myself. “ He was the limit. He asked the overworked resident in the emergency services to connect an Ambu bag to oxygen source and ventilate a baby who was being given nebulization for respiratory distress. Did he think it was a mannequin or what” another one reported. That sounded high handed to me too. It was not an inspection of the troops on parade ground. It was a battleground where doctors were battling to save lives. “When he saw that oxygen tube would not connect to Ambu bag in the labor ward neonatal area, he said babies were not resuscitated in that labor ward and were probably taken elsewhere for resuscitation. Sir, even a medical student would know babies could not be taken elsewhere for resuscitation, or they would die or develop severe asphyxial complications. To think he was said to be a specialist who was said to be treating babies where he came from!” This colleague of mine was right. Even our servants would have known that. “Sir, he insulted our eclampsia room, which we had to put up because the council insisted we must have one or they would derecognize us. He remarked it was so horrible patients would actually get eclampsia there if they did not have it. Isn’t it ridiculous? If a patient did not have eclampsia, why would she be in that room? And did he not know at the council that eclamptics were not recommended to be kept in separate rooms? Could he not keep with science?” This staff member had good reason to be upset. He had wrongly criticized our set up. “Perhaps they keep sticking to rules copied from old books by Babus in council service or on contract” suggested an associate professor. “Then he did something funny. He barged into the Ethics Committee office and told them a couple of wise things about Ethics. I did not mind that one very much. There must have been God’s hand behind this act of his, telling the Ethics wise guys a thing or two, when their entire life seems to be dedicated to telling everyone else off.” This staff member must have been burnt by the Ethics Committee of the institute. This was one good thing I had heard about him. “Sir, something is seriously wrong with his attitude. I pity his mental state and feel distinctly sorry for his subordinates, wife assuming he has one and she had not left him, and children, if any.” This associate professor of ours was known for her emotional thinking and her comments were commensurate with her personality. “Sir, he was not a neutral assessor. He had come with an agenda.” I did not know how to agree or disagree with that statement. I could not condemn him. Perhaps he did not know what was wrong with him.