Dilemma..

“Give me back my 4000 rupees”
The woman started shouting at the cashier Lata of the hospital.
The woman’s husband was admitted with abdominal pain and vomiting since yesterday.He is an alcoholic.Whatever money he earned he usually completely drained over whiskey bottles.She was fed up of him.But being a dutifull Indian wife she had to bring him to the hospital whenevr he develops symptoms related to excess alcohol intake.Otherwise her Mother in law would nag her .

“Afterall he is your husband.If he is a man he will drink.so what?

That is mother’s usual reaction to son’s alcoholism and related illnesses .They are jats and in this community a man is not expected to be a teetotaller not even by his family.
The woman raised her voice again.

“It is your duty to collect the money from the insurance people,not the patients.”
She shouted at lata.
“I am not giving you back any money I received”
Lata also retorted in same tone.
“If you cannot pay you should have thought it before getting admitted in a private hospital.you could have gone to government hospital for treatment”
Lata commented in an angry voice.

Dr.shweta,me and sister vibha sat in the next room hearing the argument.
We wanted to know exactly what is happening beyond a wall.

Dr.shwetha called the ayah .
“hey kantha..go and see what is it?’

kantha obeyed the order with the same dutiful composure as usual..
she came back in a while.

“It is the attendant of room no.12.They don’t want to pay the hospital bill”

“Why? They have insurance coverage.Why should they pay” Dr shwetha asked
Tthe insurance company says they have not joined them”
“But they have a mediclaim card.Hw’s it possible then?”
Dr .shwetha wondered.

She dialled the internal phone to basement where sister kiran is dealing with all
Insurance work.
“Yes didi.They produced a mediclaim card.But it is forged.The agent cheated them”
kiran explained the situation
.The man had taken a health insurance from a known company through an unknown agent/mid man.as theses people are not much educated the agent fooled them very efficiently.
They paid somemoney to the agent.They never bothered to verify what is going on.

We called Lata to our room.
“What is happening?”shweta asked
“Their claim is denied as they have not taken any policy.Now the lady paid 4000 .Total bill is 4830.I reduced 330 from myside.She has to pay 500 more to me.But she saysto me to give her back that 4000 also”
Lta explained the situation.

“Why?”I asked.I couldnot understand the logic
“She says she will bring the agent and he will pay.”Lata said.
“Did she get hold of the agent?”sweta asked
“No.she is trying.He is not picking up his cell phone”

“Then how can she bring him? vibha ,our nurse,wondered.

“Its just a trick.She wants to get her money back from me.I asked the boss .He said no.I am not going to give her the discharge summary till she pay me the remaning 500.”
Lata affirmatively declared her stand.Being Punjabi blood she is very efficient in dealing with all idiosyncratic reactions of hariyana villagers.

We keralites,upites and biharis simply sit and watch this type of dramas without active involvement usually as we are less efficient in dealing with such complicated situations.

Lata went back to her room.
The jat lady again tried to coax her in to giving back the money.Then she started abusing and threatening.But lata remained firm as usual.
“I will surely bring the agent in 2 hours.You take 10,000 from him .Make a bigbill.
Now give that 4000 back to me”
Lady tried one last technique when all others failed.
“See madam.Its impossible to give you back the received money.You give me the 500 and I will give you the discharge card”
Lata declared her final decision.
Lady went away and later brought her 22 yrs old son with her
The man gave lata a 500 rupees note from a bundle of such kept in his pocket.
It was just a trialrun from the patient’s side which was a usual happening in the hospital.

Middleclass people of Hariyana have now learnt many tricks to fight life.
I had seen the pathetic conditions of government hospitals in Hariyana.Money is not the issue.it is in plenty.But illiteracy,ignorance and lack of awareness of human rights
are the issues.People themselves are corrupted from the roots.The cleansing process should start from their own basements and cellars.Being an outsider ,and from a place where people create a lot of “hallas’ over many imaginary issues and ballooned up problems I always fall in a dilemma-“how to react to what I see everyday ?”