Stories from the Ward
During my time at Sankara Eye Hospital, I visited a few patients in the non-paying side of the hospital. A few of their stories are presented here.
The pediatrics section is located within the general ward. The day I visited only a few young patients remained — the rest had been scheduled for surgery. I walked into the colorful room and singled out a girl for my interview. Keerthana.
Keerthana is a shy eight-year-old girl from Kanali, India. She came to Bangalore on the 2nd of June and was operated on the 3rd for cataract. As she played on the bed beside me, she told me that her vision had improved substantially since her operation. She has dreams of becoming a Kannada teacher and, according to her mother, enough motivation to make her dreams a reality. After missing school for over a month, Keerthana is excited to return home with a renewed hope for the future.
I ventured into the waiting area to find patients to interview. This is when I met and Sivappa.
Sivappa is a 55-year-old man from Mayasandra, India. Although he conversed fluently in Kannada, he claimed his mother tongue was Telugu. As a mason worker living on limited wages, Sivappa desperately wants eye surgery so that he can continue to support his family.
Both Sivappa and his wife Gangamma, a common laborer, work from 9–5 to support their family of four. Sivappa left school at a young age, but he is keen to educate his children. He jovially admits that his eighteen-year-old son is less committed to this dream; however, he continues to fuel the aspirations of his fifteen-year-old daughter who has taken a serious interest in her studies.
Since he needs a corneal replacement, Sivappa needs to wait until an eye can be harvested. Hoping to undergo surgery within a month, he will return to his village and wait for good news.
As I spoke to Sivappa, another man sat beside me and added himself to the conversation. This man was Balappa — a 60-year-old widower from the Tumkur District of Karnataka. Like Sivappa, Balappa’s native language is Telugu and, when I asked him to write his name for me, he did despite his limited vision.
When he was a child, Balappa lost vision in his left eye due to an injury. Now, he relies on his right eye which has been affected by a corneal tear. Balappa admits that he previously refused surgery and has stopped using the topical medications. After his vision worsened, he was eager to come back to Bangalore. Even though Balappa has children, he is unsure if they would take care of him if he became entirely dependent upon them.
“My son is married with three children and my daughter-in-law does not care for me. My two daughters are also married, but they live far away with their husbands.”
Without a pension, Balappa will have to continue to work as a coolie. He claims to have severe leg pain that makes it difficult for him to earn his wages. By having his cornea repaired, he hopes that he can work and remain independent.
On Friday June 2nd, I was posted in the assessment room of the community ward. Patients from the Ananthapuram and Hosakote camps crowded the room awaiting their evaluation for surgery. Realizing that a majority of the patients did not understand Kannada (the only Indian language I am fluent in), I dropped by the general ward in search of a Kannadiga patient. This is when I met Budensab.
Budensab is a 88-year-old man from a small village near the Hosakote District of rural Bangalore.
