The writer works at the South City Hospital’s emergency department and studied for her MBBS at Baqai Medical University in Karachi
This Saturday seemed like any other ordinary day to me and I continued my day as usual; the sky was not very clear but that thought was quickly replaced when the cool wind brushed against my face to make me feel like I was somewhere else. The weather forecasted that some areas in Karachi were in for heavy rainfall. I, however, conveniently chose to dismiss what I’d heard or read in the news and decided to manage my day just as any other, driving out with my mother for her routine dialysis.
After almost four hours, I was welcomed by all that I had been warned about — lightening, thunder, rain and water everywhere. On my way back from Saddar and onto the main Clifton Road I was extremely stressed with the massive traffic jam and the rising flood of dirty stagnant water. At this point I wondered to myself whether this was the same road I had crossed a couple of hours ago. Decorated shopping malls were strewn in garbage gushing forth with the water and polished cars were seen floating about idly in the water. All I wanted in that almost suicidal slow pace was a boat ride home.
While I was consoling my mother, who was becoming anxious seeing the chaos that encompassed us on the road, in the near distance I could hear a siren blaring continuously. There was an ambulance stuck in jam and it appeared that the only one bothered by the deafening sound was me. No one else seemed to be bothered. Being an emergency doctor I seemed to hear the siren louder than anyone else, perhaps because I hear it every day and also understand the alarming nature of such a call. My mind wandered to the patient inside the ambulance and how critical the situation may have been. Multiple scenarios flashed across my mind — cardiac arrest or even worse, some sort of organ failure post a bad fall or maybe the patient is already dead awaiting its final rites. After raking my mind for a while, I said a little prayer for whoever was in the ambulance.
What bothered me to no end was the fact that all my life, I saw my parents paying their taxes religiously and on time for the ‘able’ authorities to manage — water tax, property tax, drainage tax, electricity tax, etc. included. As law-abiding residents of the country, do we not even deserve even the most basic facilities?
The monsoon season has always been the cause of chaos in Pakistan. It is a season that comes every single year and yet, we go through the same mess each time. The rains have impacted the city so critically that even today, on Monday, the aftermath is clearly visible. The severe flooding in Korangi did not only render many people homeless but also cost the city a tremendous amount in infrastructure rebuilding. Main roads were blocked again and God only knows how many ambulances must have been stuck in the traffic.
It is a moment of shame that all the authorities, ministries and politicians should reflect upon. We need to learn how to prepare beforehand or else we will always be part of the ‘modern slum’ in the world.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (7)
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Congrats on a well-written article Dr Schumyla. I'm surprised at the weird rude comments posted by the readers here. It seems to me like we Pakistanis have nothing else to do but find faults and pass on rude remarks on others.
A well-wisher.
Its a good way for government to get aid donations from abroad. Who cares if poor people die
ETBLOGS1987
"Being an emergency doctor I seemed to hear the siren louder than anyone else, perhaps because I hear it every day and also understand the alarming nature of such a call. My mind wandered to the patient inside the ambulance and how critical the situation may have been. Multiple scenarios flashed across my mind — cardiac arrest or even worse, some sort of organ failure post a bad fall or maybe the patient is already dead awaiting its final rites. After raking my mind for a while, I said a little prayer for whoever was in the ambulance."
That is all you did? Say a small prayer? As a trained doctor working in an emergency area, you did not offer help? Wow.
"What bothered me to no end was the fact that all my life, I saw my parents paying their taxes religiously and on time for the ‘able’ authorities to manage — water tax, property tax, drainage tax, electricity tax, etc. included. As law-abiding residents of the country, do we not even deserve even the most basic facilities?"
Your parents may have oaid there tax and good for them but the problem with Pakistan is that not enough people pay the taxes they owe and the tax base itself is small to begin with. This is an issue that India too faces though not the extent that Pakistan does and hence the budget for civic facilities is really very limited. Changing the drainage cystem in a megapolis like Karachi would be a huge investment and the government has to prioritise amongst health, education, electricity subsidy and so on. On top of that Pakistan has also chosen (whether rightly or wrongly only Pakistani citizens can decide) to earmark a much greater proportion of its GDP to defense than similarly placed countries would do. So the answer to your question is No. citizens in poor countries like India and Pakistan cannot expect and do not get Western standards of infrastructure.
On hearing sirens and speculating on condition of the patient in that ambulance all you did, "After raking my mind for a while, I said a little prayer for whoever was in the ambulance."----Shame on you! -----as a qualified doctor with working experience of emergency situations / departments , you should have rushed to that ambulance stuck in traffic and offered to help, instead of just saying "a little prayer". This is exactly what our tragedy is people who we train for various jobs tend to leave that job done by gods through prayers, little or bigger ones.
Nice article and something the government to take seriously ...rather than how a certain name is spelt. This is the bubble we live in.
She might have written a good piece, I didn't read it. However, she has undoubtedly the most weird spellings of Shumayla, I have ever come across. Is Mohtarma from Germany as there people use "Sch" when they have to sound "Sh", like Michael Schumacher! :D