Mother tongue is blessed with amazing power of reassurance. Some time back while I as a doctor on duty, a concerned staff nurse accorded to a patient , called me to check the patient (who was undergoing blood transfusion) if there is any kind of transfusion reaction. I went to the patient and discovered NOT any kind of reaction but the patient was highly anxious, heart rate almost touching 140. I asked the patient “what happened? are you alright?”. It was late night , the patient kept on insisting me with anxiety- enriched confident voice, “Dr sahab please discontinue the transfusion and let it continue tomorrow morning please”. I kept on motivating the patient in view of the protocol of the hospital/ guidelines to blood transfusion. But the patient kept on same note. At a while the attendant with the patient found me as a Kashmiri. She put hearing aid in patient’s left ear and told me to speak now. I told the patient “Ba chusakhkashur doctor (I am a Kashmiri Doctor)” .
On listening to my voice in Kashmiri language , the patient at a moment got upright and relaxed ,with heart rate normalising below 100 at once. The patient said to me “Bas Wen Chun Mein KehnParwa, meh aao wen panunKashur doctor. Yel wen blood transfusion pouregache tele , wen Chun Mein KehnParwakehnfikr”. The patient happened to be a Kashmiri Pandit and offered me unconditional blessings and love. The above story immensely validates the healing power of our mother language.
(The author a Medical Practioner at SMVD Narayana Super Specialty Hospital, Jammu is also a motivational speaker,activist,columnist and a top educator awardee. Views are his own)
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