Panic at Hindu Rao Hospital
It is impossible to remember each and everything that has passed through our lives. But when we look back, there are moments that stand out, some moments we can never forget.
I had one such experience last sunday. It was my 24 hrs emergency duty and as I was drawing blood from a patient, I had a needle prick injury. My first reaction was to panic. It was Sunday and the lab for testing HIV was closed and the pharmacies/centre dispensing HIV medicines were closed. I rang up friends asking if the RML hospital testing centre is open; turns out it was closed that day. I know the chance of getting HIV through a needle prick is only 0.03% but recollecting the story of one colleague who contracted HIV through a prick (mine went real deep) and the need to take preventive medicine in the first 24 hrs got me dead worried.
I searched for private clinics near the hospital (was still on duty) and happened to come to a lab which was about to be closed in 5 minutes. The man there asked me to come the next day but I requested him and he agreed to help me out. I rushed back to the hospital, took out some blood from the patient and got it tested.. Whew! negative.
This experience made me think again of what I used to say, "I'm not afraid of death". To die for a righteous cause or something that is out of your control is a different thing. I wonder if I have neglected to do that test or search for medicines that day and die of AIDS someday. I don't want to die unecessarily
Hindu Rao, 2007
I had one such experience last sunday. It was my 24 hrs emergency duty and as I was drawing blood from a patient, I had a needle prick injury. My first reaction was to panic. It was Sunday and the lab for testing HIV was closed and the pharmacies/centre dispensing HIV medicines were closed. I rang up friends asking if the RML hospital testing centre is open; turns out it was closed that day. I know the chance of getting HIV through a needle prick is only 0.03% but recollecting the story of one colleague who contracted HIV through a prick (mine went real deep) and the need to take preventive medicine in the first 24 hrs got me dead worried.
I searched for private clinics near the hospital (was still on duty) and happened to come to a lab which was about to be closed in 5 minutes. The man there asked me to come the next day but I requested him and he agreed to help me out. I rushed back to the hospital, took out some blood from the patient and got it tested.. Whew! negative.
This experience made me think again of what I used to say, "I'm not afraid of death". To die for a righteous cause or something that is out of your control is a different thing. I wonder if I have neglected to do that test or search for medicines that day and die of AIDS someday. I don't want to die unecessarily
Hindu Rao, 2007
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