' WHY PEOPLE COME BACK TO YOU'
A TESTIMONIAL TO ANURAG HOSPITAL, COIMBATORE
Sometimes one wonders what is the point of becoming a doctor .... and a surgeon at that. What you set out to be at 15 years of age when you start training, goes on all your life time , even decades later!
It is really and most certainly worth it , when you receive a note of appreciation - rather a testimony- of what your services offer and what you mean as a physician / surgeon to the person who receives your professional attention.
It is said,
" Not everything that counts can be counted,
Not everything that is counted truly counts"
This letter received from a patient who recently underwent surgery at ANURAG HOSPITAL, COIMBATORE means a lot not only to the team who treated her, but also to the person who wrote it!
The patient has kindly permitted to have this as a blog. The writer's name is erased to maintain confidentiality.
Why people come back to you
I was first introduced to DR. John AC Thanakumar when I was referred to him by our family doctor Dr. V.Chandra of Kovaipudur. It was in the year 2006 and I had gone to her for a consultation on feeling a cyst in my right chest. My family and friends strongly advised that this should not be brushed aside nor postponed.
My husband and I waited outside the consulting room of Dr. John in Kovai Medical college and Hospital ( KMCH) with a lot of trepidation. KMCH had lot of memories to provide . My daughter was born here in 2000 – happy days which we would always cherish . But more were the days spent here in 2001 when my late mother was frequently in and out of KMCH due to her prolonged illness which lasted for nearly a year after which she breathed her last . Hence both sweet and sad memories – similar to life .
We were meeting Dr. John for the first time and we had come there only on the assurance given by Dr. Chandra that he was one of the leading surgeons in town . On going through the reports , the doctor was very quick in his decision- that a surgery was needed, giving us no room for fear or sentiments .We guess that was what gave us the confidence – when he nailed the fact that the cysts has to be removed immediately instead of needling and sending it for biopsy . Having a 6 year old daughter at home , my fear knew no bounds hearing the doctors words .what seemed to be a mountain dwindled in to a mole on hearing the doctors clear and patient explanation . He concluded that as such he was available in the city for a couple of days and was ready to do the surgery on the same day or the very next day . we headed back home, pondered on the doctors words and came to the conclusion that I needed to go ahead with the surgery.
Our next meeting with the doctor was during my first and final review after a couple of weeks ( I don’t remember recognising him in the operation theatre as there were a few of them – all masked in their professional attire ). The doctor was full of energy and cheer . The way he removed the band aid was so abrupt and rapid that it still flashes in my memory – for a second it was unbearable pain. He explained that if done in a slow manner the pain would have been double fold during the whole process . By now , it was clear that he was quite proficient in his profession . He was citing some examples of few surgeries he had performed on some models which did not even leave a scar . I was then not in a mental status of appreciating the scarless surgery as I was worried about what the reports would say . My joy knew no bounds when he confirmed that it was just fibrodenomas . Hence I returned to my normal routine life .
We moved to Chennai a couple of years later .Months turned to years . The surgery was done so efficiently that there was not even a slight prick or a pain in the area to remind me of the same and it did not leave a scar too . Being a Banker , when I listen to clients appreciating a doctor’s work or when I interact with clients who are doctors , I would remember with gratitude a humane , dynamic and a skilled surgeon of Coimbatore whom I had failed to appreciate for the scarless surgery .
Twelve years later , on feeling some discomfort in the left axilla , I had a scan in which again 2 cysts were noticed in the right chest . I recollected that Dr. John had hinted earlier that my body did have a tendency to develop fibrodenomas and also that I may get it say, after 10 or 15 years .
The start of another tension filled period began – family and friends insisting to go for another consultation . My husband was on travel, overseas , on job and my daughter was taking up her boards which made my presence at home mandatory . As the consultation was kept on the back burner, the fear slowly started to creep in . I was heading our Adayar Branch and then subsequently our Mylapore Branch .We were staying at Mylapore , Chennai . Hence we had doctors and hospitals at every nook and corner . But the speculation that I might have to undergo yet another surgery triggered the recollection of an efficient Surgeon of Coimbatore . My husband and I then decided that it would be the best to go back to him given his pin point diagnosis in the past.
I was informed by the receptionist of KMCH that Dr. John was no longer with KMCH . I googled to find out that he was now practicing in the hospital he has founded : “ Anurag Hospital “ . We did not have any second thoughts . We reached “ Anurag Hospital “ at Sowripalayam , Coimbatore on the 5thof Sept 2018. We waited in the neat reception hall of the hospital which brought back the memories of us waiting in the lobby of KMCH. During the wait , we noticed that the hospital team was lead by Dr. John and his family – wife , son and daughter in law – a family of doctors . It is undoubtedly , the dedication and sincerity he has towards his profession which must have made him reach here . It is a very neatly maintained hospital with all the amenities especially the friendly staff . Being a busy doctor with innumerable patients , he did not remember us but he was more or less the same person whom we had met 12 years before . The stay in the hospital was just for two days after surgery during which we understood that the doctor and team also gave back to the community in various ways like free treatment for the poor , conducting free medical camps etc.. The surgery reports were luckily diagonised again as fibrodenomas .
On our journey back home which was 25 km away from the hospital , it dawned on us that when people come back to you inspite of the innumerable choices that they have , it is just not the skill and efficiency but the trust and confidence which is instilled in them . It is the kind and sincere gesture the person shows at the time of need . This applies to all professions , be it banking , teaching , sales etc . There may be 100’s of Doctors like Dr. John but there would certainly be 1000s of patients who are thankful to such doctors as the old saying goes “ Doctors are next to Gods “
May the Lord Almighty shower his blessings on the Team of Doctors and staff of “ Anurag Hospital
Appreciating the sincere efforts of the entire team of “ Anurag Hospital “
J..... ..
( Patient ) "
