Visiting Cusco’s public hospital

Fortunately, we did not go to the hospital due to any kind of medical problem. Rather, it was our plan to see if it was possible to meet a person Mona knows…. A person who is working as a medical doctor and who also serves the community as a nun.

We arrived at the main entrance of the hospital at downtown Cusco – it was a long line and many people – a rather hectic and somewhat tense atmosphere to a hospital to be. And with a guarded entrance gate…  Anyway, we managed to navigate ourselves to the gate and was let through based on the story that we were relatives of one of the doctors…. Suddenly I had graduated to be a “relative” – a well-intended white lie in this somber religious/health ambience – but of course, the objective justifies the means… At least we got inside in the shade of the crowded foyer.

Here an actively led rosary was in progress, which with its recitals and prayer routines probably calm peoples’ minds and spirits – and gives hope of something bigger and better. Most of the patients were poor and elderly of indigenous ethnicity waiting to be attended or in progress of receiving needed treatments. And of course, each patient was accompanied by various other family-members, all in good Peruvian/Latin style.  

Coming from Europe, the crowd, the hospital’s caregiving ambience embedded in religious symbolism and rites (as for instance the public Rosario) made an impression.  All good and well-intended with an appreciative population having no choice but to seek help at the hospital.

While we all must be grateful for nurses, doctors and administrators giving their best effort to help patients and their families, I still could not help but wonder if all this work is best organized under a religious cloak. Though Christianity, in its various forms, are long lasting organized bureaucracies, should we take it for granted that the administration and leadership of people willing to dedicate their life to their religion and helping others through their work, always is up to the task?  Do they have the skills (surely, they know their catechesis) and adequate leadership, organizational and technical competence to run a hospital of this size? I do of course not question the medical and nursing skills, which I am sure are top notch, but merely the organization of the services being offered.

I guess the ambience just got the best of me. Who am I, as an invited outsider “relative”, to wonder and raise questions? And, for sure God blesses all the good intention and work that is being done.

In the end Mona and I did not manage to meet up with her doctor-friend. We were told that she was away “at work” in a distant village. She did, however, have time for a brief telephone conversation and an exchange of regards.

The visit was completed; we grabbed some lunch and happily walked back to our mountain campsite in pouring rain… After the hospital visit, the rain felt particularly refreshing.