I am bringing to your attention a most horrible experience of mine, which I believe many others may have shared and which, if no appropriate sanctions are taken, will surely be the experience of many more in the future.

For some time now I have had an eye problem whereby small swellings form around my eyes and which (supposedly) is the result of pores being easily blocked by dust particles. I started treatment at Moka Eye Hospital, where I discovered that I was far from being the only one having this problem. I was one of the lucky ones to be examined by a doctor who was kind enough to provide me with a simple explanation. Most other patients had absolutely no clue whatsoever of what the problem was since their doctors had told them they could not ascertain why such swellings form. ?Some people get colic just as some get eye sores? is one of the intelligent explanations provided by our intelligent eye specialists. Apparently the swelling may just disappear with time but, in most cases, a small surgical intervention is necessary to remove the swelling and prevent it from recurring. Even then it is possible that the swelling may re-appear at the same place and, according to doctors, such patients are simply doomed to come back to get the swellings removed time and time again until they no longer re-appear. A real nightmare for them, should they have to go through the same kind of ordeal which I went through on a regular basis.

I recently went to get two swellings removed from my left eye, after having had my right eye operated on three weeks before. The waiting room could have been a haunted house straight from a horror movie. It would not be a bad idea for the ministry of Health to consider improving our hospitals? infrastructure. I was among some fifteen patients waiting to be called inside the operating theatre. As soon as I was called in, the events that took place left me wondering why Mauritius is considered a modern society. The nurse was preparing to put eye drops in my right eye when I was there to have my left eye operated on. I wonder what those ?blue cards? supposed to contain the details of the patient?s conditions are for?

I was then called to lie on the operation couch and got a live demonstration from the doctor of what it means to be bad-mannered. When I asked him whether I should remove my shoes before getting on the couch, he replied : ?You don?t have to take your shoes off, when the helle did I tell you to remove your shoes? In a similar rude way, I was asked to slide up on the couch and told: ?Try to keep my hands down while I?m operating, did you hear me?? I tried to explain to the doctor that the swelling had supposedly been removed three weeks before was still present and could he enlighten me? Apparently, he had more important things to do than listen.

It also seems that, in obtaining his medical degree, our dear doctor forgot some of the basic biology taught in lower secondary schools, on the fact that the closure of our eyelids is an involuntary response when the eyes are threatened by external foreign objects, since otherwise he would have never have uttered the following to me during the operation: ?What?s the matter with your eyes? Why the hell are you shutting them? How do you want me to operate??

To crown it all, the swellings have been removed in such an unskilful way that I almost passed out due to the agonizing pain. Whether the anesthesia had not yet fully come into effect when the operation started or else the doctor is simply incompetent, I do not know.

Let me highlight that I was not the only one to have suffered so much on that day; almost all patients were coming out of the theatre in tears, condemning the abusive language of the doctor. It is simply unacceptable that our citizens are being dispensed with such lowly health facilities, bordering barbarism. I am making an appeal to the authorities concerned to take necessary action to make the doctors more aware of their duty towards the population. Regardless of the job performed, respect for the recipient of your service is primordial, and it seems some doctors need urgent reminders of this.

May I also include that, last year, I underwent a similar operation in that same hospital and had a totally different experience. The reason? The staff of that hospital had been made aware that I was the niece of an influential person in the ministry of Health. I know the government alone will not be able to change this rotten Mauritian mentality, but it does have the power of making sure good services are dispensed to the whole population.

<B>N.N.</B>