The Hospital

Woman In Distress

The world has seen numerous powerful men in every decade. However, only a few of them were good. The good men left the world inspiring many. The cruel men left the world, showing that all bad deeds will be punished in the end. The famous Adolf Hitler, who was responsible for the deaths of several Jews, had no choice in the end but to kill himself. Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini was taken hostage and shot when he tried to escape. Nicolae Ceausescu, the communist leader of Romania met his end on Christmas Day. He was sentenced to death along with his wife for genocide and corruption. The earth has seen many of these men who died brutally in the end. The reason was always the fight shown by those who were oppressed. History all over the world is a testament to this fact. 

'You are also one of those who got oppressed.'  Thought Sneha as she climbed the stairs that led to the entrance of the hospital.

'In this story, I will be the one to expose and end Dr Krishna's powerful reign.' Thought Sneha before approaching the glass doors in front of her. 

According to Sneha, no hospital should ever be owned by someone who caused the deaths of his patients instead of trying to save them.

Upon reaching the entrance, the sliding glass door opened welcoming her inside. This time she felt differently compared to the last time. This time she was perhaps more nervous than before. Although some of her was confident that she would dig out something, another part was also worried. 

There was something that had been bothering her. The one thing she feared was if her real identity would come out. Many tyrants often feared those who were oppressed. They knew one day someone among them would rise and rebel. Though Sneha did everything to live differently, she knew one thing very well.  She knew that if Dr. Krishna investigated her past, surely he would end up finding something connected to it. She must do everything to be in his good books and at the same time expose him.

Along with Sneha, many nurses also walked inside. She smiled at them politely. Today she arrived at a bus stop near her hostel room at six in the morning.  The hospital bus picked her up. Most of the bus was occupied by nurses. In addition to the nurses, the women at the reception and a few old doctors also boarded the bus. The nurses wore dark blue shirts over dark blue trousers. They did not have any head caps but most of them had their hair tied in a neat bun. 

Though Sneha did not have many clothes whatever she had she believed were decent and simple. She wore a light blue long shirt over black leggings. She brought herself a red handbag which she got from a recycled shop.  She opened the handbag and removed a paper. It was a map of the hospital. The day she had cleared her interview, the HR of the hospital gave it to her for guidance. 

The ground floor was devoted to the emergency department and administration department. Apart from that, there was a conference room and patient waiting area. The first floor had only ICUs. There were simple intensive care units, pediatric intensive care units for kids, neonatal incentive care units for babies, and surgical intensive care units. The second floor was devoted to consultation with doctors of various specialties. This floor also had rooms where blood tests and other tests like X-RAY, ECG MRI, etc. were performed. The third floor was completely devoted to the obstetric and gynecology department. The labor room and operation room especially for this department along with the ladies-only ward were all on this floor. The whole fourth floor was only meant for various surgeries. The fifth floor was devoted to wards of various departments. The isolated ward was also on the same floor but far away from the normal wards. The sixth floor was kept only for interns, duty medical officers, and resident doctors. This was where Sneha had to go now. Even the canteen was on this floor. 

Sneha looked around. The reception area was almost empty apart from a few women. However, there were no almost no patients sitting in the waiting area on the silver benches opposite the reception counter area. Behind the waiting area closer to the glass windows were two elevators that still had doors open. She quickly ran towards them and went inside. She pressed the button for the sixth floor. A golden light emanated from the number six on the button and the doors of the elevator which began to close suddenly stopped by a hand. 

A  young woman with her hair tied in a neat bun walked into the elevator and smiled at her. She wore a cream-colored cotton sari with a matching blouse. Sneha smiled back at her politely. Even though she disliked smiling at unknown people and those with whom she did not get along, she had to pretend to be polite. That is how the world according to her had become. Perhaps the word fake itself seemed to be so normal in this century, that anything else different was considered absurd or impractical.

As Sneha continued observing the lady, she realized the woman was pregnant. However, there wasn't a smile on the lady's face. Instead, she looked very nervous and worried. Her forehead was full of sweat and the fingers of her right hand fumbled with the zip of green purse she was holding around her left arm. 

"You okay?" Asked Sneha, lowering her eyebrows.

The woman silently smiled and nodded her head at her before looking down. 

"How many weeks now?" Asked Sneha, hoping to get along and help the woman in front of her.

"twelve." Replied the lady keeping her head down.

The situation in the elevator felt so awkward that Sneha wondered if the woman was shy or avoided any people. Although she did not like mingling with others she never behaved like that. There was something fishy going on with the lady. She was holding some papers in her right hand. Sneha tried to look but she couldn't succeed.

As the elevator went up, the woman felt uneasy. She kept her right hand over her chest and tried massaging it slowly. Sneha now felt worried. There was something wrong with the woman in front as she could see the way she was breathing. Although she was breathing as though the air was not enough, Sneha doubted that she had any breathing issues. This looked more like a panic attack.

She immediately grabbed the woman's hand and looked at her. However, the woman still wasn't looking at her. Sneha couldn't keep quiet now anymore.

"Relax and keep breathing." Said Sneha, loudly.

Tears rolled out from the woman's eyes. She was now breathing with her mouth open as well. 

"Aunty, please relax. It would help if you calmed down. Is there anything worrying you? Please tell me."

"Help." Said the woman, slowly, as she continued to breathe with her mouth open.

The papers the woman was holding, fell. Sneha bent down to pick up the papers but something caught her eye. Shocked, she grabbed the papers quickly. One of the papers had something that widened her eyes. On top of it, written in bold letters was 'PRENATAL SEX DETERMINATION TEST'.