CORONA - THE BIG LEVELLER

Hospital. 

Three admissions to the ICU in as many weeks. For the hospital the patient is the moneyspinner. Bystanders, the scum of the earth. The patient is administered the finest critical care for which the bystanders pay through the nose. Those who pay are handed the short shrift.

Ammachi was in the Emergency and later in the critical care. One bystander is directed to wait in the lobby to carry out the instructions from the CCU, ICU or HD as they define it. The beauty is another has to wait beyond the front door in the open braving the elements. 

While I sat there in the open on a plastic chair I could observe the people walking in. Patients in various stages arrive. They are put through the Corona desk and the fever desk where the receptionists  are invasive and never gentle in their probes. The security personnel shout directions. Wheel chairs or trolleys are brought out and the patients are taken in, where to I wondered.

I could see the staff getting in. The guard  opens the door for them mechanically. They are efficient. They don't permit haphazard parking. 

When the Doctors or the top hierarchy drive in,  there is a big commotion. The security men run around to assist them park the vehicles. 

They salute them smartly.

But corona is a big leveller.

Like the people who seek alms, the High and the Mighty of the hospital pause before the guard. They bow and stretch out both hands in a manner similar to the ignominious who stretch their hands for alms. The guard pours the sanitizer intò the hands like amrith.  Rubbing their hands together they enter the portals.

The security personnel are among the lowest paid in almost all the organisations. The higher echelon never respect them. They are ignored contemptuously.

But Corona has made them come of age. They now command. The high and the mighty have to bow before them.