Alms

We were taking ward round when I noticed this guy. He was in his early sixties. He was carrying a plastic bag with packs of glucose biscuits. He was handing over one pack to each patient. The packs were small, probably carrying five biscuits each. What was peculiar was that he was wearing a face mask, as used by surgeons in operation theaters. He was probably afraid of catching some disease while distributing his biscuits. What was more peculiar was that his mask was covering only his mouth, while his nose was wide open. He had probably seen some of our surgeons operating, and thought that was the only way to wear the mask. Perhaps he had seen those monks of a certain religion who wear masks so that they do not harm even microbes. Those monks also wear masks over their mouths only. I tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around. “I am the head of the department here” I said. I want to talk to you.” “Is it about permission to distribute biscuits here? I have …” he said, his hand moving towards his pocket. “No. You must have the permission, or the Sister in charge of the ward would not have allowed you in this ward. I want to talk to you about your mask. You have to cover your nose to make it effective.” So he put up his mask over his nose. “Please do not give biscuits to patients receiving intravenous fluids. They are not allowed to eat anything” I told him. He took back the pack he had given to my patient receiving IV fluids. Then he went about his way distributing biscuits, and I went on to see my patients. Three days later I found him doing the rounds of the ward again, his mask below the nose. My Assistant Professor looked at my face, looked at his mask, and started tapping him on his shoulder to get him to cover his nose. “Wait” I said “don’t correct him. Probably he cannot breathe through the mask. He is wearing the mask for his own protection. His open nose cannot harm our patients. So let him be.” A month later, I found him again doing his thing in our ward. His nose was covered. I wonder who corrected him today. I also wonder if the patients are so poor that they happily take whatever is given to them, or they believe that he is a part of the hospital personnel. I also wonder if they realize that he thinks they have diseases he is afraid of and still have no self respect and take the five-biscuit pack that he hands out free.