Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute Rohini New Delhi

Review of the progress of recovery from the surgery undergone by me for removal of a cancerous esophagus entailed undertaking some more scans  such as CT scan and PET-CT scan.CT scan suggested a  recurrence of the tumour. PET-CT scan was indicative of a cluster of nodes suggestive of  a likely metastasis. In a layman's language the cancer had come up again. Or perhaps it had  never gone away. I was never convinced  that a mere surgery for removal of a cancerous growth would have led to a complete cure.This was later confirmed when I surfed the net. The net enlightened  me that cancer could  never be  cured, it could only be managed.
The good surgeon Dr. Agrawal studied the scans and concluded that perhaps there would be a need to  undertake a chemo or radio therapy and wrote his advice that I could get it done at a private hospital approved by the C.G.H.S.(central government health scheme).Reports about the Dharmshila Cancer Hospital were not very encouraging and therefore, I had to opt for the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre  because I found that I might not be able to penetrate the bureaucratic system of  All India Institute of Medical Sciences to get myself registered  in their cancer therapy department.The Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre (RGCIRC) was  far away from the place I reside.A visit by car would take  at least two hours.
Our first visit took three hours because before reaching that  place I had to visit the dispensary from where I get my medicines on a regular basis. The in-charge of the dispensary on the previous day had refused to grant the permission to undertake the therapies from the RGCIRC. I had  to request her bosses to intercede to make her agree to accord the permission. On the 16th of September2011, I finally got the permission letter.
At the RGCIRC the experience was more harrowing .The bureaucracy was more stubborn than the one we encounter in government offices. We were asked to fill in a form and submit that at a counter .We stood in a queue for about fifteen minutes at the counter before they were able to prepare the file.But then arose the question of payment . When we insisted that I was a CGHS beneficiary and a pensioner and that  my treatment had to be on a credit basis, the girl at the counter asked us to get the necessary endorsement from one Ms. Ghosh working at their basement office. Ms. Ghosh was a middle aged  grumpy woman who had perhaps no traces of sympathy in her personality.. She saw our papers and then curtly told us that we should get a colour photocopy of my CGHS card and submit it to her. On being told that it was not proper she shamelessly admitted that that  was indeed so but pleaded  her helplessness saying that that was a CGHS requirement.We had a black&white photocopy but that was of no use.She wanted a colour photocopy and that was final. We went out of the hospital in search of the photocopying facility.At a distance of about one and a half kilometre we spotted a Kodak laboratory on the opposite side of the road.After taking a U-turn we reached the place only to be told that that was a photographer's lab. and that  we would need to go to the  sector seven market to get a colour photocopy. We were able to  locate that sector after some time. Ankit, who had always been  accompanying me,  walked up to the first floor of a building which was housing  a photocopy shop and returned after about fifteen minutes.Two colour photocopies cost Rs.20 and two  black&white photocopies cost only Rs.two. On a photocopy of the permission letter Ms. Ghosh appended the required endorsement .We took the endorsed letter  to the reception window and produced the endorsement. The girl at the window then completed the file .At first she wanted us to deposit Rs. 242, a discounted amount for a CGHS beneficiary,as the consultation fee.But on our insistence that it had to be a cashless transaction  as I was a pensioner, she looked into the endorsement once again and relented finally.Then she directed that we should go to the second floor of the building and wait for our turn and that our file would be sent  through their own channel.Our file did reach after some time but our wait continued.We  had to wait for one hour and forty-five minutes before we could get to see the doctors.The doctors looked in to the history of the case and decided that a) I should get a complete hemogram done ,and
b)CT and PET-CT scans should be reviewed  so as to be certain that the cancer had returned.That would
 enable them to determine whether there was a need of chemotherapy or radio therapy or of both .
Again we had to stand in a queue to get us the receipts which were necessary for us to get the said tests done. While Ankit went to get the review done, I came to the second floor again to give the sample of blood. I was told that I could get a provisional report   around 4:30 pm the same day, but the final report would however, be available only the following day late in the afternoon. Similarly, the review report would also be available the following day. We came out of the building and boarded the car. Ankit got himself dropped  just about a kilometre away from the hospital and I moved  towards my residence certain that I would have to return soon.