The Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth- A Bilimbi story and more...

Some time ago I came across a news where a person was admitted in hospital with discomfort and nausea. The tests revealed severe renal failure. The perplexing fact was that this patient's tests had shown healthy kidneys just a few weeks back. It turns out that this patient consumed a glass of bilimbi juice each every day for four days and by fifth day developed the said symptoms. detailed tests showed oxalate crystals in urine due and had to undergo weeks of treatment and hoemodialysis before he regained full health. Apparently the bilimbi juice consumption was done based on advise via YouTube by some self proclaimed "experts". On search I came across many other patients who were admitted in hospital due to the over consumption of bilimbi juice to treat their hypercholesterolemia. A good research would have revealed that there is no general prescribed daily dosage for bilimbi juice. All authentic sites give you the benefits, but advise you to consult a doctor before starting on the bilimbi for any health benefits.   

Many of our attitudes are formed by hearsay or ideas projected to us through mass media, social media, cinema and literature. The Internet is flooded with videos, discussions, debates, advises and articles, many of which gives a singular dimension of the truth. We often forget that there is a huge difference between Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But The Truth. Our selective amnesia on this important fact make our attitudes dangerously jaundiced and biased.

One such topic is our apathy towards the govt health infrastructure and personnel. The Whole Truth about this can be found only with effort, time and humility to accept that our knowledge and exposure is limited. Kerala has one of india's best health infrastructure. Another strength is the proactive Community medicine department in Kerala that was noticed by public only after its contributions to effectively control the Nippa outbreak. 

Interacting with people in the health sector reveals the extreme resource constraints within which the health system works. In my personal interaction with many doctors, nurses and support staff in the govt. sector, I was surprised and humbled by their dedication despite the severe resource (both human resources and others) within which they work. However most of them were accepting of the situations and kept their morale high by contributing to filling in the gaps in the resources in their own way. A doctor donated chairs for the doctors waiting room which had little furniture, another donated a music system to the C-ICU to play soft music and soothe the nerves of the suffering patients, PG students assisting in the ICUs and wards always decide on and donate an equipment needed, at the time of completion of their course. These people did not wait complaining about the situation, but found their own ways to run the system in the beat possible way. 

In this context I borrow a point from the book 'How NASA builds teams' by Dr. Charles Pellerin - "Where attention goes; power flows". It is high time we take effort to shed light on the constraints and difficulties in the health system, so that the authorities concerned would pump in resources to strengthen it and not just conveniently crucify the personnel whenever there is an error in the system. Whenever there is a gap in the system we give our opinions without hearing both sides of the story and join the media in blaming the system and echo their accusations. 

We took its services for granted till now. Now lets give it the attention it deserves, and let the power flow.