With a population density of 4,621in Vellore City Municipal Corporation, the urban space is chaotic enough. But within the boundary of the Christian Medical College and Hospital, the discipline is enviable. Patients from Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka of the SAARC region come here for medical treatment. Although a significant number of medical tourists from the Gulf countries such as Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain as well as Mauritius and Kenya seek medical help here, by far the largest number of patients from Bangladesh crowds the surrounding area of the CMC. Even patients from the West Bengal are outnumbered by the Bangladeshi patients.
The CMC is renowned for nearly 125 years of distinctive services. It has earned its reputation by dint of its excellent education, dedicated services, integrity and compassion aided by research and adoption of up-to-date medical technology. Patients from Bangladesh take a lot of trouble to reach Vellore to find a welcoming ambience there. It is almost three-hour drive from Chennai to Vellore, a distance of 137 kilometres, by road. For poor patients, the long journey proves highly costly but still they embark on such a journey confident that they would be placed in safe hands.
So far as the patients' stay in cheap hotel is concerned, the system of hosting has developed accordingly. From as low as Rs250 to Rs 550 rent for one room a day with the facility of cooking their own meals, the patients and attendants find the arrangement highly acceptable. Of course, there are quality services at hotels for middle class or upper class patients. But when it comes to standard restaurants, it may be somewhat disappointing. The main focus appears to be on serving the ailing poor patients.
What is particularly impressive is the absence of any privilege for patients of the upper class. 'First come first serve' is strictly maintained. Once the patients are enrolled in the system, there is no way of bypassing anyone. Outside of the boundary of the CMC, it is no less chaotic than Dhaka as the footpaths are occupied by merchandise of the roadside stores. Hawkers and vendors are there as well but they are not many. A few of them ranging from fruit sellers to garment retailers take some strategic points away from various stores. But still the footpaths are rarely vacant and streams of pedestrians snake through the busy spaces along the roads.
So, the contrast between the rigid discipline maintained on the CMC campus and roads outside is glaring. Then there is yet another problem. A few cows are roaming the roads and the cow dung is splashed by the wheels of three-wheelers. One has to be aware of this nuisance while walking. The three-wheelers are not like the ones in Bangladesh. Those are almost double the size mostly made in the factory of Mahindra automaker. These vehicles are quite intimidating as their drivers park those on busy roadside and always accost pedestrians if they would take a ride. Foreigners are fleeced by these auto drivers.
Braving all such troubles, patients have to approach the international relations office to get an appointment with the doctors concerned. But once in the system, there is hardly any problem except following the rules to be at the right place at the right time. Here the most daunting challenge is the language barrier. Patients from abroad are not familiar with the local language Tamil. Hindi can be an alternative but few people from Bangladesh know Hindi. The alternative is English and not many Bangladeshis are good at this language too.
Since the largest group of patients from abroad to visit the CMC are Bangladeshis, it would be better to have a Bangladesh Desk manned by the Bangalees well versed with the procedures there. There are some technical issues of which even the highly educated people are not aware. For example, people directly contact with the oncology that is cancer department. Not all tumours are malignant. So, it is essential to approach the endocrine department first to ascertain whether it is cancer or not. Then the endocrine department will refer to the oncology department. There are many such subtle differences and only the proposed help desk can guide patients and their attendants to the right department. This saves time and money.
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