General Hospital in Anekal and Weekend Plans

5/20/11

Today I went with Dr. Farah and Dr. Nandeesh (a resident) to a much bigger government run facility- the general hospital in Anekal. The structure of the government’s health system is as follows: primary health centres are the lowest level and provide care to the least amount of people, community health centres cover a larger number of people, and general hospitals are the largest. This general hospital has 13 primary health centres under it.

We set up in a large back room of the hospital and saw 34 pregnant women. First Dr. Adrian weighed each woman and took her blood pressure. Next, either Dr. Farah or Dr. Nandeesh sat with each woman and looked over her health history, which each woman presented in a small notebook she brought with her. Since I work with electronic health records, this part was particularly interesting to me. These women take care to have all their medical records in one place and remember to bring their notebook to each clinic visit. Many also brought ultrasound scans with them. The doctor asked each patient if she could feel fetal movements (depending on gestational age) and then examined the woman on a bed. There were two beds with a blanket on each. There was no hand sanitizer in sight, the blankets were never changed, and no one ever washed their hands, despite there being a bathroom in the back of the room with running water (and I believe I saw soap too). It was just so, SO different than any clinic visit or hospital I had ever experienced in the U.S.

The doctors wouldn’t turn any patients away, even at 1:30 when it was half an hour past when we were supposed to leave. We finally got out of the hospital around 2:15 and by that point, we were all starving. We stopped somewhere near the hospital and Dr. Farah treated us all to glasses of cold badam (almond) milk and bags of treats. All the treats here are either pure sugar or fried…kind of like at home! I tried some of this sticky yellow stuff..looked like twisted wet straws of sugar. I think it was called 'jalebi.' I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the treats but the badam milk was to die for! I’ll have to get that again, and also try a lassi (yogurt drink) at some point.

5/21/11 Running and My Plans for the Weekend

This morning I woke up at 6:30am, AGAIN, without an alarm. I know I went to bed at 9:15 but geez, this waking up before 7 has got to stop! I decided right then and there that I would get dressed and go to the sports complex across the street from the college and attempt to run. Last Saturday I saw the track and knew I would have to eventually try it out. However, it has been intimidating me all week and I finally got up the nerve this morning. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made all week. It felt AMAZING to run! I only ran 3 miles, but wow did it feel liberating (in a country where women aren’t nearly as free to do things as in the U.S.). Of course there were plenty of stares from the men warming up for a cricket game, 1) because I’m white, 2) because I’m a white woman, and 3) because women really don’t participate much in sports, from what I have seen so far. (However, traditional women get a ton of physical activity with all the home care, child care, and chores they must do) By my third or fourth time around the dirt track, the stares lessened and I fell into a groove. The temperature around 7am is perfect too, around 70-75 degrees with an overcast sky. The endorphins really started pumping around mile 2, and I was almost kicking myself for not having gone out there earlier in the week. Everything in time. I’m getting braver by the day! The track is specifically open to joggers from 6:30-8am, and again in the evening, so I will have to make sure to run at least a few times a week. I think the gym membership can wait.

Tomorrow my plan is to go to Berenghatta National Park, about 25km south of Bangalore. The park has tigers, elephants, and a whole host of zoo animals, and safaris. I saw something too about elephant rides, which I would love to do if the price is right and it looks as if the elephants are being treated OK. I’ve been researching how to get there by bus, and it seems quite simple. Hopefully everything works out tomorrow and I survive my first solo adventure. The walk to the bus stop will take about 20 minutes, I think (love all this walking!!! And I live on the 4^th floor too = lots of exercise!), and the bus ride should take no more than 1-1.5 hours. We’ll see…Should be a nice little local adventure!

If I have time tomorrow I will also go exploring the Oasis Mall, which is another nice mall very close by. It shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to walk to. There is a KFC/Taco Bell across the street from that mall! I’d love to just take a look at the Taco Bell menu, since there is no beef-eating here.

I’ll report back on my weekend in a few days! Hope everyone has a nice weekend!