15- Psychatrist in Delhi

15-Psychiatrist in Delhi

October ’84- Indira Gandhi was assassinated. This followed riots in Delhi in November. I put an ad. in the paper that ‘I would be available to see the victims of the aftermath of the riots’.

I set up my small ‘practice area’ in the basement of my sister Shashi and Mohan’s clinic in Greater Kailash and started seeing ‘ikka-dukka’ patients.

Soon, I got selected as Consultant and Psychiatrist at Batra Hospital to start the Department which was really good for me. I was back in a hospital setting with other medical fraternity which gave me the opportunity to work as a specialist from home base, so to say.

It was a full time assignment. Quickly, I discovered that to be part of the hospital, I had to go by certain ‘management dictated hierchical rules’ and not necessarily as ‘I’ felt ‘clinically best’ for the patients. I felt, perhaps, the Industrialists built the hospital more for ‘revenues’. The ‘primary intent’ was not necessarily medical service. I did not wish to fight the system and neither was I willing to accept ‘this’.

Also Karan would return to school by Lunch time and I wanted to be at home for him, instead of sitting in the hospital ‘without work’. I took the advice and consent of Dr. I.D. Bajaj who had been our warden at Maulana Azad and was 2nd in command to the MD Dr. Nagpal.

My life had changed its course from one of giving in and going along to one of steering my ship my way……. So I decided to convert to my position to ‘half time’.

I had already started ‘practice’ at Shashi’s Nursing home and was gradually, getting more patients. I had the advantage ‘of being a Woman Psychiatrist’ and also one who had returned from abroad with a foreign degree which was an attraction for people here.

The first problem I faced was that of ‘language’. Although I spoke in Hindi, I would automatically think in English. When my patients spoke, my reflex would be to answer them in English. It would take my mind a little time to translate. This felt ridiculous and I was very conscious of it. The other difference was that most patients here came with many family members, friends and even neighbors who were keener to see me than the patient himself. It was actually difficult for me to sometime make out who the patient was. In treatment therefore the whole family also had to be included, much in contrast to the method of working in America where everything was more individualistic and autonomous. Most patients over there went ‘on their own’ to the doctor.

I was energetic and started going to Lectures and Conferences, myself taking part and also presenting Papers. Dr. Sunil Kaul was a fresh graduate who came from Pune and was interested in Sports medicine and Physical Health. Both of us started Aerobic and Dance classes in my clinic for my Psychiatric patients as part of their treatment. (The concept of such Dancing/jazzercises caught on much later in Delhi-perhaps the 90s).

I remained active, academically, attending Psychiatric meetings here in India and the USA when possible.

Gradually, there was increasing sensitivity and awareness in the Media, lot of attention being paid to Psychiatry in the Magazines, newspapers, radio and television. I would put in ‘my bit’ as and when the opportunity came my way.

My friend, Shubhadarshini started her own Film Company with a regular Medical/Physician oriented educational program making me in- charge of the Psychiatric segment. And we did quite a few clips together.

I was getting more and more patients who needed acute Hospitalization. I didn’t find Batra a satisfactory place, due to it being an Open General hospital and Psychiatric patients actually needing a more confidential, intensive and inclusive set up.

Brother Vikram and I therefore looked around and my mother bought a place for me in G.K.2 itself.

I designed it gracefully for the needs of a small ‘psychiatric nursing home’. There were huge beurocratic hassles at every step during its establishment, but I coped and survived.

Then I shifted my Venue of practice to ‘SAMVEDNA PSYCHIATRIC KLINIC’, Ved being my father’s first name. This was my new professional project now.

Ila volunteered to be the Receptionist. She was really good with patients, active, understanding and encouraged my ‘Practice”. She and I got along famously and became Personal friends. Madhumati Singh joined as a fresh Psychologist and Rachna as an Aesthetic counselor. In the beginning, it was difficult to find good Nurses and the Domestic staff. However over time I was able to find suitable people and trained them for my patients’ needs and my style of working.

In the mean time I had reduced my work at Batra, some more, to twice a week, for two hours only. My ‘Practice’ now was becoming more and more ‘In patient’ requiring more time and energy. I enjoyed the work during the following years. I also then, added another Male Psychiatrist and Psychologist to help and share Patient care as a team. We were doing ‘group therapy’ programs including Yoga and meditation. ‘Alcoholic anonymous’ meetings were conducted at the premises with an in-house ‘Chemical dependency’ counselor.

I was by now, very much a part of the rest of the Psychiatric doctor community of India, who accepted and looked up to me as----‘Me’ as I was I guess!

Typically at a Conference of Psychiatrists, people behaved differently, some with respect to the psychiatrist in me, some with flirtatious teasing to the woman in me, some with a slight awe to the whole of me, some just friendly and some wondering about my status.

I remained strong, re-establishing professionally back home in a very competitive world, which was every day and every moment ready to pounce on a single woman. My vulnerability became my strength and I did WELL. Besides being able to work for the ‘woman’s’ cause’, by now I was also known for the ‘psychotherapy’ rather than the purely ‘medicinal approach’ that I used for patient care. More and more younger clients seeking better lives, wanting to make proper personal and career choices, marital couples, teens with adolescent issues with parents, added to the rest of the ‘seriously depressed and unwell population’.

After nearly 20 years of work here, some of the seniors asked me to form the ‘Delhi Chapter’ of the ‘Indian Association of private psychiatry’.

This I did and as its President, worked further towards the ‘Road to good mental Health’.

Veena