The Princess of Wales Hospital
In a grand old red building of the British era, at Dhab Khatikan, in the interior of the city, our initiation in Obstetrics began. In January 1978, we arrived at ” The Princess of Wales Hospital” for our one month long maternity duty. Lady Chelmsford had laid it’s foundation stone in 1917. History has it, she was fluent in Hindustani ,and had mingled with the local women to understand their needs. We arrived ( Rajinder,Indrani, Vibha and me) when the first batch of four (Manjeet, Jasvinder, Roopinder and Neera) were about to depart.
We were expected to witness and document twenty normal and five abnormal deliveries for a successful rotation..
Our rooms were thread bare , that had high ceilings, and minimal furniture — only an old fashioned charpoy . The room had an air of austerity about it, like a monk or a nun’s cell. It had a mantel piece on which we kept our wrist watches, and sometimes a glass of water. Since no meals were to be provided, we had brought our own heaters on which we would make our tea, milk fed scrambled eggs, and on some days tempo toasts On one occasion, one of us brought aloo mutter gajjar ki sabzi from her home. It was a treat for us , the best sabzi ever tasted. Sometimes, Vibha’s aunt who lived close by would send tiffin in a stainless steel box. Our friends would visit us there occasionally to keep our morale high.
Unbeknownst to all of us, what a normal delivery entailed, we began in right earnest. We had heard stories from the first batch as to how unnerving it was for some of them to witness a delivery for the first time. One of them had even fainted and had to be revived. When I witnessed the first delivery, I heard the patient screaming in pain, I was asked to remove the afterbirths which was quite an experience —-as a first time effort. .Within a week, we witnessed a rare case,. Our batchmate( name with held) who was attending this patient was very perturbed as the patient would not stop bleeding. She had watched the patient for hours diligently. In between cups of tea, she would make several trips back and forth between the ward and our rooms . Dr. Jasjit Chhaachhi, the attending Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at The Princess of Wales had worked tirelessly to save this patient , but in the end the patient died of an Amniotic Fluid Embolism .
By the time our month long posting drew to an end , we did not have enough abnormal deliveries to document . The probability of finding twenty abnormal cases five for each person each in a month was highly unlikely. We did not know what to do. So, all of us shared our abnormal cases however few in number they were .I do not know how much obstetrics we learnt there but surely it was a one month long extended picnic away from writing laborious notes ceaselessly in the class
Sadly, today, this 106 year old hospital no longer serves as a maternity hospital. Taken over by the municipal corporation, it is a community health center. The number of Ob- Gyn patients has dwindled from the thousands to a few hundreds.
It will not be long before this historic hospital will close it’s doors for Ob-Gyn. Buried in its walls will be unseen ghosts from the past, that will echo a long wail of labors lost, memories faded, and whispers of lament and pain, and it will have lady Chelmsford stir uncomfortably in her grave.
Harmeet Bhatia
