FRUSTRATED But Life Must Go On II

I generally log on to the Internet any time from 3.30AM or 5.30AM to start work. But today I am logging on only at 8.31AM. I have been struggling to fight down an urge to do something that would impact many thousands of people.

Would I be doing the right thing in contemplating to do what I have a strong urge to do? Would my behavior be any less irresponsible than those of the few who compel me towards the option that is open to me?

It is a very difficult decision – I know it is not correct that because of some idiots I should imperil few thousand people. And yet, for how long can one continue to condone irresponsibility and mindlessness and abject disregard for duty and ownership of stewardship? Because I am fully aware that the problem is not merely superficial – it is almost pathological and deep-rooted.

It is not just one or two spokes in the wheel that are dysfunctional – nearly all of them are none performing.

The state of Bhutan's civil service

Under the circumstance, what duty of a higher calling would I be performing - in continuing to suffer heartburn on a daily basis, year after year?

The Virus Hunters

Professor Christoper Golden of the Department of Global Health & Population, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, USA is leading the  “Virus Hunters” team from NatGeo. He was due to arrive Bhutan during this April but that did not happen due to COVID-19. It is most likely that he will be able to come next year when tourism will open.

The team is doing some interesting work that deals with viruses – its cause and effect. More interestingly it tells of how to prevent future pandemics. Please read at the following:

https://www.mediavillage.com/article/nat-geos-virus-hunters-team-tells-tca-how-to-prevent-future-pandemics/

Rotary Club of Thimphu Donates 6 Kidney Hemodialysis Machines

On Bhutan’s National Day - December 17, 2016, the Rotary Club of Thimphu donated 6 brand new units of Kidney Hemodialysis Machines to the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Bhutan. This Nu.6.8 million Global Grant Project took two years to realize and the collaborative spirit of 10 Rotary Districts and Clubs - across countries such as Bhutan, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and USA.

 

 

Bhutanese hospitals across the country suffer acute shortage of these life saving machines. We are told that at the JDWNRH, Thimphu, patients are so desperate for dialysis that they regularly attempt to jump queue - resulting in occasional fistfights.

His Majesty the King has gifted a new 24-beds Dialysis Center that is currently under construction. We think that our machines would provably be installed in the new Center. However, that is a decision the Health Ministry will have to take - our donation was a gift without any strings attached - we will not dictate where the machines should be installed.

In the coming months, we will also conduct in-country training and refresher courses for 9 operators of these machines.

Our immediate next project with the Health Ministry is the setting up of 3 artificial limbs fitment centers - one each in Thimphu, Gelephu and Mongaar. The world famous “JaipurLimb” technology will come to Bhutan as soon as the MoU is signed between the Health Ministry, the Rotary Club of Thimphu and some Indian donors. With the setting up of this Global Grant Project worth US$80,000.00, Bhutan will no longer need to send patients out of the country for prosthesis.

BUT GOD ALMIGHTY! - the wheels of bureaucracy grinds oh so painfully slowly! Even after four months of dogged pursuit, our MoU is still gathering moss in some unknown labyrinth! I have this uncanny feeling that the first patient that the Thimphu Center would need to treat would be our own MoU - because by the time it limps out of whatever hole it is stuck in, it would have lost a leg and an arm - thus requiring prosthesis replacement.

The Rotray Club of Thimphu's Project of Compassion & Healing

The Migraine Treatment Clinic of the Rotary Club of Thimphu was successfully concluded at the close of day on 10th October, 2016. It began on the evening of 25th September, 2016. This was a humanitarian service initiative conducted in collaboration with the National Traditional Medicine Hospital (NTMH), Kawajangtsa.

The team that worked on the Clinic - some Members of the Rotary Club of Thimphu with NTMH officials posing with Dr. Yu

 

Dr. Yu Huang shut down her successful private practice in Boston, USA to heed the call of many Bhutanese suffering the dreaded illness called migraine. Every day, she worked from 7.30AM in the morning till 11PM in the night – almost always missing her dinner. During the two weeks period she administered acupuncture to close to fifteen hundred patients. The NTMH’s resident Dungtso’s (traditional doctors/healers) worked tirelessly to keep up with the marathon consultation and treatment that, at times, seemed near impossible to manage. Rotarian Sonam Wangmo was roped in to act the Sergeant-at-Arms, to bring some semblance of order in the management of the crowd thronging at the doors of the consultation and treatment rooms.

Dr. Yu treating a policeman and a Gomchen - ably assisted by the resident Dungtso Dorji Euden

 The Rotary Club of Thimphu would like to believe that the project was a success; that it has brought relief to many and liberated a few from the pain and the discomfort of suffering the dreadful disease. Even if 10 people are cured of the disease, we are satisfied that ours have been a worthwhile cause.

The Clinic has served the Royalty, the commoners, monks, nuns; a traffic policeman, including his officer. I am proud to have been associated with the project that has, according to daily reports, cured a number of people of migraine, back pain and a host of ailments that the Clinic was never intended to treat.

The acupuncture’s curative powers have now been firmly established in Bhutan. We wait for the day when this form of ancient Chinese treatment is accepted as a mainstream treatment by the Health authorities.

There are many people who suffer illnesses – for reasons that are not of their doing. It is a mystery – why one has the gift of life, and yet has to suffer pain and agony, to live it. But one thing I know: no one suffers because they deserve it.

The Rotary Club of Thimphu would like to be able to conduct a follow-up Clinic next year. Dr. Yu is willing and will try to get some more acupuncturists to join her during her second trip next year. Until then, here is wishing a good and painless life to all those who came to the Clinic with hope and optimism. 

Project completion dinner for Dr. Yu and her husband Sanjun Chen

A grateful patient's touching gesture:
Of the many cases Dr. Yu has treated, one was an 18 years old boy who suffered a chronic case of Cerebral Palsy. For most of his life, the boy was tied in a contorted knot and could not move or sleep properly. Speech was strenuous. Two acupuncture sessions later, the boy loosened up and could flex his fingers and arms. Movement was not easy but he could now move. And he could sleep.

In gratefulness, as physically and verbally constrained as he was, he communicated to his mother that he would be happy if she could invite Dr. Yu to his home for dinner. That was touching - Dr. Yu had her last dinner in Thimphu with the boy at his home - she departs Thimphu today morning. A touching send off from a grateful patient!

The boy got one last session of acupuncture at his home yesterday night - from a visibly moved Dr. Yu.

Disclosure of the Identities of the 4 Persons with HIV/AIDS II

I have news that the BBS is going to go ahead with the Show on the 1^st of December, 2011 as planned. It is sad. 

Well, I tried … but I am not the moral guardian of this country and I do not have the mandate to take on this cause solely because I believe some wrong is being committed. But as a person who feels, and as someone who believes that life is beautiful, I find that I need to make and attempt to preserve life. Each of us must have the right to live life to the end. Life cannot come to an end simply because someone has been infected by HIV/AIDS - that must not be the end of life. Life is worth living - until the last minute, until it is snubbed out of us. 

Fortunately, I won’t be anywhere close to human civilization - when the big Show takes place - so I do not have to be a witness to it. And given that we have such short memories, by the time I come back, the matter would have been forgotten.

Disclosure Of The Identities of The 4 Persons With HIV/AIDS

On the evening of 26^th November, 2011, I just happened to be passing by the TV in my bed room – to go to the toilet. I noticed that the TV was on idle mode. On an impulse, I pushed the “ON” button on the remote and punched in the numbers “11” without intending to actually watch whatever BBS was broadcasting at that time - it was an impulsive act. A half-hearted sideways glance on the screen showed that the BBS was showing a live panel discussion anchored but Dawa. The three panelists consisted of two medical doctors and one High Court judge. Curious to know what was being discussed, I retraced my steps to take a closer look at the TV.

I realized that I was towards the fag-end of the program. I was about to shut off the TV when I heard Dawa say that the BBS TV would be hosting a live show on the 1^st of December, when he will showcase four persons who have been tested HIV/AIDS positive.

Consternation stuck me! WHATTTTTTTTTT??????

As the enormity of the tragedy of what they were planning began to sink into me, my mind was a tumultuous mess. It was so numbed that it couldn’t register much of what was being said. But I have hazy memories of what Dawa was saying and what the doctors were saying and what the judge was saying.

Dawa the anchor justified that the parading of the 4 HIV/AIDS positive cases would be in the larger interest of the people of Bhutan.

One of the doctors on the panel actually claimed that HIV is no longer the scourge that we believe it is – he claimed that it is as common as cancer or any other chronic disease. The other doctor who is supposed to be the head of some HIV/AIDS related organization claimed that the 4 persons have volunteered to come on the show – live! and that it is a first of its kind in the world.

The High Court judge rattled off some mumbo jumbo about the Constitution providing adequate protection against abuse of the individual right and the individual dignity of every Bhutanese individual.

All of the three panelists and Dawa the Anchor made it sound like it was all hunky dory and went on to assure us that there is a need for this cause célèbre.

I am amazed at the naivety of it all. Doctors and judges endorsing this 15 minutes of fame seem to ignore the devastating and life altering consequences – not so much to the 4 persons willing to appear live on TV, but hundreds of others – who will be affected by this misguided show of bravado and a misplaced sense of righteousness.

There are certain ethical and moral and legal issues that these people who have cajoled the 4 persons to come on live on the BBS TV, need to understand.

For the doctors: What do your professional code of ethics and conduct say – about encouraging your terminally ill patients with socially unacceptable disease, to reveal their identities on the national TV? Can your behavior be considered ethical – in advising and encouraging them to undertake a step that leaves them wide open to unfathomable reactions and, even ostracization from friends, relatives, co-workers and the rest of the society?

To the Judge: In quoting the Constitution and reminding us of the protection it accords us from abuse of individual rights, are you saying that there are legal provisions in the law that will protect these 4 persons (and their numerous family, spouses, children, siblings) from discrimination by individuals and society? Are there laws in place which could be applied, should they suffer ostracization as a result of public declaration of their illness?

To BBS TV: As a public service broadcaster, do you believe that you are doing the society at large a service by broadcasting a program that may well subject a huge number of people to discrimination, acts of intolerance and prejudice? Are you prepared to be an accessory to the ensuing disruption of life and happiness of a large number of people that the broadcast of the program may cause? Have you considered that these 4 HIV/AIDS positive persons may be willing but what of the others associated with them? Have you considered that you stand to jeopardize the lives and happiness of others associated with these 4 persons – who haven’t given their consent to the public disclosure of their conditions and who, either because they are ignorant or because their condition is still a secret, live a life of relative ordinariness?

To the 4 HIV/AIDS positive persons: What exactly do you hope to achieve by going public with your sickness? What will you tell the people that they do not already know about the consequences of contacting HIV/AIDS? Have you considered the consequences, once the 30 minutes glare is over?

Please remember that you do not exist in isolation. You are a part of the human society. You have parents; you have wives, children, friends, employers, employees, co-workers, landlords, tenants and sex partners. One way or the other, they identify with you – they are intrinsically linked to you and what you do will impact them - irreversibly.

Do you have their concurrence to draw them into something that they may not be willing to be drawn into? If not, who gave you the right to jeopardize their lives and happiness, and anonymity? Do you realize that their lives may already be affected as a result of your illness? Are you repentant about the fact that your spouses, your children and others may already be going through misery and unhappiness – because of you? How responsible are you being – in wanting to aggravate the situation further – by declaring to the world that you are a HIV/AIDS carrier?

Please remember that you are not alone in this. Lots of others who love you and care for you and who have stood by you all this while will be affected by your action - the outcome of which is as yet unfathomable.

Please remember that your children may lose friends in school – no one may want to sit next to them. In the vegetable market, your spouse may stand out like an oddity – a bull in a Chinese shop. You may get thrown out of your flat. You may have had sex with others who still are unaware of your dreaded disease – once you come out in the open, they will know. Imagine their misery and their anguish. Imagine how many lives you stand to ruin and bring to a stand still.

No amount of education has been able to squash the misconceptions surrounding HIV/AIDS. It is still looked upon as a disease that is abhorable and highly contagious.

In every part of the world, without exception, discrimination is looked upon as something that is undesirable. Governments and societies around the world legislate laws that are designed to fight discrimination. And yet, there is no society in the world that is free of discrimination. Bhutan is no different. Therefore, the contention that these four people and their kith and kin will not be discriminated against is something I am not willing to accept. Our proven records show otherwise.

AN APPEAL:

In conclusion, I appeal to the management and the Anchor of BBS TV to withdraw the broadcasting of the program on 1^st December where they will present the 4 persons with HIV/AIDS. Even if they insist on going ahead with it, I hope they will be reasonable enough to seek the consent and concurrence of the other people who stand to be affected by the broadcast.