As the sun set, their OPD hours came to an end . Avani was trying to figure out her duties after OPD .The assistant professors joined their HOD Dr.Shankara Raman K to go to the wards for the evening rounds which started from the emergency.
A part of their unit which included an Assistant professor, Post graduate student and an intern were posted at the emergency during the OPD hours. They would evaluate the patients referred from casualties to their department of medicine and admit them or refer them as per patient’s requirement.
The Interns job at SJR hospital was very clerical. They had to evaluate ,write down case sheets and collect lab reports manually from the microbiology and pathology labs. They had to follow up cases in the respective wards. More than clinical evaluation ,they had to just manually check pulse and blood pressure of their patients. SJR Medical college was a private medical college .It was mostly their post graduate students who could do learn being doctors. Interns had to tasks as mentioned above. It was assumed that they would do their post graduation. Hence their clinical acumen was less than their counterpart government college students.
Although SJR Medical College was a private medical school funded by generous donations by management quota students, the infrastructure was very inadequate. There were no proper duty rooms for doctors. There was a small room meant for junior doctors which was more of a partition than a room with no toilets. It had no separate rooms for ladies .ECG technicians and other hospital staff used it Hence female doctors avoided it during their night duties and used it only chat with colleagues during intervals in daytime.
Later Avani learnt from Romilla that there were rooms which could be used by doctors near nurses station. As accommodation was limited ,lady interns had minor tiffs over finding room if their numbers exceeded. Avani's house was close to SJR hospital. Although it was walkable ,she had to use her car at night for safety.
SJR Medical College and hospital were on two different locations.SJR Medical College was faraway from Avani 's home .Only final year students and interns did not visit the premises of medical college as their classes were taken at hospital premises. Avani was gifted a car by her mother during her second year MBBS. She had an accident with her two wheeler in her first year which made her reluctant to use it although she tried to overcome her fear by driving it again. This made her resort to using buses or auto. Avani was from a wealthy family. Her mother ensured she had her driving lessons when she reached 18 years and had gifted her a car.
Avani's parents cared a lot for their daughter .Her father waited near the steps of hospital mortuary awaiting her arrival during night duties to escort her safely back home .(Thankfully ,The hospital mortuary was usually empty as SJR Hospital did not have inhumane rules of keeping patients bodies till their attendants paid up fees.)Her mother also stayed awake during such nights to ensure Avani ate her dinner properly and did not sleep on empty stomach.
Avani realised that if she persuaded a clinical career ,night duties would be a big burden for her parents as well. Hence she was thinking of not pursuing her second year MBBS dreams of being a unit chief like Dr.Shankar Raman sir and conducting grand rounds leading professors and students parading inside wards and icus.
It wasn't just her parents sacrificing their lives that deterred her ,Avani was a person of mild disposition. The amount of everyday politics and struggles a post graduate student endured made her feel she wasn't fit for the job. She felt she should have taken up another career to suit her personality
