Overcome with guilt, I take up the doctor's time with questions as patients arrive one after another.
A woman with an open, infected wound on her head has walked five miles four days after a fall because she heard “doctor amma” sees all patients whether or not they can pay.
There is a mother worried about the way her infant's neck moves. She reached here as the last resort. Parents of a 15-year-old girl wait to thank the doctor for saving their daughter, who came with acute abdominal pain. “When I opened her abdomen, I found all the organs sticking to each other and nothing could be done,” says Dr. Jacqueline Pragasam. “I stitched her up again and placed my hand over her with a silent prayer on my lips. Scientifically, we still do not know her diagnosis but she has been miraculously healed with medicines now.”
The corridor outside her spartan office teems with patients. There are people crippled by strokes, broken bones, abdominal pain, and high fever, there are patients with cysts and tumours, and there are cases of poisoning. Some children cry, a few seniors get restless. But, the moment, they meet Dr. Jacqueline they smile again.
Caring
She is constantly busy and yet she doesn't appear to hurry through her patients or show irritation. She doesn't turn away anybody. Yet, she examines so many people while ‘talking the work' in her ultra-soft voice: “I always feel there is something more the Lord wants me to do.”
I am told this is one hospital where the night emergency is busier than the day's outpatient department. By virtue of its location on Dindigul Main Road, Leonard Hospital turns into a hub for accident victims by night.
It is through two such seriously injured accident victims, who owe their lives to Dr. Jacqueline, that I meet her.
Timely medical attention has saved many lives within the walls of this revered hospital. As the Medical Superintendent, Dr. Jacqueline keeps track of every case and by necessity often performs procedures that would normally be done by specialists in other hospitals.
“Time factor is always crucial in treating patients,” she says. “We have obtained medico-legal license and don't wait for the police to arrive in accident cases. We don't care whether the person is rich or poor, has health insurance or can afford to buy medicine. I have ensured that money is not a criterion for providing treatment to anybody here.” Dr. Jacqueline is one of the 15 in-house doctors serving Leonard Hospital, which is run by the Holy Cross Sisters. What was started as a small dispensary in 1963 has today grown into a 200-bed multi-speciality hospital and also an important referral centre for patients from Madurai, Dindigul, Theni and adjoining areas.
Medicine is not Dr. Jacqueline's only line of work. Few of the 350-odd patients she treats on a regular basis know that she is a Sister of Cross of Chavanod since 1988. Religion doesn't come in conflict with her medical work, she feels. “Using my skills as a doctor to serve the poor is the way I fulfill my vocation. My patients only know that I care very much about them and they will walk out healed and cured.”
“We have built the confidence that no matter what, they will get medical help. And I think they experience a loving care. We are not just two ends of the provider and client chain but the doctor-patient relationship is real and human. We don't ask for money first, but attend to the problem hands on. That means a lot to the people, especially those with grievous injuries from accident sites.”
Dr. Jacqueline's father wanted her to become an engineer but she wanted to have more opportunities to serve the poor. “I went to a Convent School and was influenced by the Sisters. I had never considered becoming a doctor. After High School, I joined the Missionary to care for those in need.”
After completing a three-year pre-novitiate programme in 1988, she worked in health awareness camps in rural belts of Southern Tamil Nadu. At the age of 34 years, she took admission in MBBS and at 42 got her Master's in Surgery. She joined Leonard Hospital in 2006 and took over as Medical Superintendent a year later.
Dr. Jacqueline points out that the hospital faces many challenges. “There isn't a nationwide shortage of doctors or technicians but a ‘maldistribution' of the workforce. While large cities enjoy an oversupply, rural areas and poor inner-city neighbourhoods are underserved.”
From those who can pay, she charges a nominal outpatient fee of Rs. 50 and Rs. 150 for general ward beds. There are also rooms with AC for Rs. 250 and without AC for Rs. 100. People know that this is not a commercial centre and they won't be overcharged. Individuals who have survived accidents after treatment here often return as donors and have helped in making the centre self-sufficient.
Dr. Jacqueline's multiple roles as an administrator, surgeon, guide and learner at seminars and workshops leave her very little time for other interests, but music and reading, she says, give her a chance to reflect.
“I feel I am an instrument in the hands of God. I am in constant inner conversation with Him. He guides me and helps me to strike a balance. Before every surgery I visit the chapel and pray for courage to handle any case,” she says. Dr. Jacqueline's mission now is to build a medical college attached to the hospital.
