BLACK MONDAY!

Monday was always dreaded by my unit of residents, it was our emergency on call day and we were responsible for any patient who walked in the emergency ward in our hospital for a full non stop day-night cycle of 24 hours. We would walk in like fresh daisies in the morning and walk out the next day, like battle scarred veterans-wilted roses.

The emergency ward was a chaotic place where patients flocked in great numbers, each one of them describing their agonies in a symphonic cacophony.You needed a cool head to survive their onslaught.I had 3 residents and 2 cute interns in my army and would work like a clock work unit to insure rapid disposal of the never ending hordes of patients.It was a municipal hospital and courtesy was never expected from us or our staff by the sick patients.Yet, we treated them with dignity to alleviate their suffering.Our lunch,tea or dinner was in a side room, visible to the whole ward, we never used to bother though, we used to be so hungry and tired.The influx of patients used to continue till the next morning, exhausting our physical-mental capabilities. This was followed by the grand rounds,which lasted till afternoon, pushing us to the brink of madness.We used to sleep like small babies in our wards and after a brief siesta, used to go to our rooms for shower and a late evening lunch!

A variety of patients used to enter the emergency ward.

Poly-Trauma during the Govinda festival, Suicides during Exam results,Burns during Diwali, Intoxication during Holi, Fractures during the slippery Monsoon season and Asthma during Winter. Infectious diseases showered their presence, all year round in our urban clean? city. Our centre was a tertiary referral centre and many patients used to come from the remote areas of our state, hoping for recovery.They were dazzled by the size of our hospital and were frequently seen, asking for directions. They looked perpetually lost.

One such day, we had the worst emergency of our lives, when we had to tackle the Mumbai blast victims.They came in droves,each one more grievously hurt than the other and soon, Code Blue was flashed, the entire department with their heads got ready to tackle the crisis.I was shocked to see the ward floor, being bathed in blood and spilled guts. It was a sad calamity. Most of the victims were brought dead on arrival and the ones who survived, wished they would be better off dead! Many lives were lost that day.

The bodies were kept in our side room, piled one upon each other like a stack of gunny bags. The severed limbs were kept in one corner,where we used to have our meals. Really, you could not determine the species of these mangled sad bodies, leave aside the religion! Our side room looked like an abattoir.We skipped meals for the next 2 days. A few fortunate survivors were hounded by the media to add to their misery.We stayed away from the glare.It was a heart wrenching experience for our on call unit that day and will stay with us for the rest of our lives to the grave.

I called that particular emergency day- Black Monday !