The civic body has wisely decided that the space around a hospital should be a silence zone. there are boards around our hospital warning people not to sound the horns of their cars, so that patients are not disturbed.
"Sir, the nurse cannot hear which instruments we ask for when we are operating" an Assistant Professor complained.
"Why?" I asked.
"Sir, they have that students' function on the tennis and basketball courts. They have put up amplifiers and speakers as tall as I am. they are playing music with heavy drums and such. The nurse has to be good at lip reading if she has to know what I am saying."
"Only if you do not wear a mask when you operate" I said. He smiled.
"This problem is annual" I said. It has been going on for ages. Medical students and their teachers both have to understand this, but they turn a blind eye to it. Cultural festivals are essential for comprehensive growth of the students, I understand."
"Hmm ..."
"I will speak to the administrators" I said. I did and they promised to speak to the organizers. I continued to run the OT with sign language in the meantime, wondering why I had to complain every year? Or perhaps the silence zone was for motorists and people around the hospital, not people within. The sound diminished after a half hour, and restarted. Perhaps they thought the OT was over, and ward patients did not matter.
