Yesterday had to be the worst admission night duty I have endured. It's not even up for debate. Government hospitals are generally under-staffed, under-resourced, under-everything except for the crowd. It is always overcrowded, always!
I'm not sure I can exactly put into words the images I was looking at last night. I was so dumbfounded I didn't even think it was an exceptional situation that needed to be snapped on our phone cameras...for memories of course! Let me try though.
I walked in through the ground floor and it was a bit busier than usual, nothing too out of the world. I got in the doctors lift - destination 6th floor. The lift came to a brief pause on the 4th floor, some of the doctors got out as it was their duty floor. Ah those lucky, lucky souls!! Because the next stop was 6th! As the door opened, something extraordinary happened. I have never in my life seen something so strange ever happen and I have seen ghosts!
As the lift door opened two large pieces of luggage stumbled inside the lift. Before we were over the momentary shock of what just happened buckets, brooms, food packets, floor mats started piling in through the opening lift door. It all happened so quickly that the lift door was not even fully open yet! As we got a moment to look out of the lift it was immediately evident what just happened.
Apparently, there was not "one single inch" of space left on the floor for patients to lay down (beds are out of the question, you'd be lucky to get space under someone else's bed!). So the patients had to make their beds right in front of the lift, and the lift door was being used to support their luggage and essentials for a few days stay....you know, the usuals(!!), bucket for shower, floor mats to lie down, brooms for dusting, food packets for....well, eating!
As the lift was cleared of the incoming objects, the next issue was how were we going to get out! The patient's bed had to be folded in half to create a passageway for us to get out. And similar gestures followed as the patients made a "red-carpet(!)" passageway to eventually enter the ward. Felt like a fucking VIP, hell yeah!
The rest of the admission duty that followed, didn't get "one single inch" better, I assure. 12 hours later I am still exhausted from last night...feels exhausting to even think about it. So no, I don't think I will write about it. There are certain things you just can not write about, these are things that stay with only those who lived the moment, as mere memories. And scars.
