I was waiting nervously in the plush lobby of a leading eye care nursing home in Calcutta, whilst my father was being operated ; this one being the second in a short span of two weeks. Ideally, I should have been worried to a culpable extent, given that it was a matter of THE ultimate sensory organ, the eye. But I wasn’t petrified and not panicking anyway, as I was extremely satisfied with the fascinating technology and immaculate care provided by the team of doctors and nursing home staff. While care is something dependent on individuals, technology is not. According to me, technology is a boon which heightens to be a ‘life touching and changing ‘ experience and which comes to us in the form of modern healthcare.
My father being seventy, developed cataract in both eyes which I believe, is a common phenomenon at his age. His case became a tad more complicated as he had a thrombosis in the right eye quite a few years ago and was detected with glaucoma in both eyes. When he informed me that his doctor had suggested cataract removal in both eyes coupled with correction for glaucoma, I was profusely worried, indeed. A simple Phaco-surgery for cataract removal wasn’t going to be the case for him. I could recall the ancient microsurgery experience, which both my grandmothers went through many years ago. There were only a few doctors in Calcutta who conducted the newly invented surgery, in those yesteryears . It was quite expensive and people were highly apprehensive about the outcome because it was a new procedure. Years have passed by and advances in medical research has led to the easier and technologically smarter Phaco-surgery these days. Lucky to be born late in the era of these innovative techniques, I was far less worried for my father than his pile of worries for my grandmothers about twenty years ago.
One and a Half Minutes 