Pre-admission Visit
Before we committed to the surgery, we went out to visit the hospital, and it is definitely out in the country. This seems, at first, an odd location for the Barath Cancer Hospital. The rolling hills are mostly fields interspersed with groves of coconut palms, scattered clusters of houses and shops, and occasional walled, multi-storied mansions haughtily overlooking their neighbors.
The hospital is less than imposing, with its one and two-story buildings fronted by a circular drive of packed and moistened earth. However, once inside, the design starts making sense. One enters through the administration building with its cool, gleaming white marble floors, high ceilings and open corridors around a large, grassy, roofless courtyard.
A ramp leads up the hill to a two-story building containing the ICU and recovery rooms. The corridors are also open to allow the breeze to keep things as cool as possible. There are three classes of patient accommodation: ward, private and deluxe. The latter two have a cot for the family member who wishes to stay, a western toilet and a balcony. The TV, AC, and more comfortable bed and cot make the deluxe room a better choice.
The canteen is separated from the other buildings by a short, dirt path. It has a menu of typical, easy-to-prepare South Indian foods, such as poories, dosas, idlees, omelets, etc.
Bustling everywhere, exuding an aura of efficiency and competency, are small, younger women dressed in the satiny white sari that seems to be the uniform of nurses in most offices and hospitals in Mysore.
The overall impression is that things are clean, cool, and competent — a pleasant place to heal.
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