Dr Praveena Shenoy

Nine years after birth of my daughter it was time again for us to bring a new one into this world. We were living in Scotland at the time when we got the good news. NHS - National Health Services - literally swooped upon us with appointments, pamphlets, instructions, hotline numbers and what not. We were provided with an appointment schedule with the midwife and doctor. All we had done was inform NHS that my wife was pregnant and the subsequent commotion progressed automatically.  But still, I was not happy, (like a spoiled brat - on hindsight) that it was really difficult to get access to a gynecologist outside the scheduled appointments. My mind painted a pretty picture of back in India of a good gynecologist living somewhere quite nearby available for an appointment at a day's notice. A short drive to her clinic and a wait of a few minutes before you were in her clinic asking all your questions at your own pace as she leisurely checked my wife and the little one inside her. My first child was born nine years earlier and I carried these impressions from that time. So with these dreams, I decided to return to India for a more fulfilling experience with my second child's arrival. (When my daughter was born I was only as far away from my wife as the breadth of Atlantic: working in US while she was delivering our first baby in India)

All my dreams of friendly and easily accessible medical care in India soon burst like a big soft balloon.First of all you had to find a dcotor to go to. There was no one sending us mails around when to meet which doctor and where. Suddenly NHS was not that bad afterall. However it was far off in a different continent now. We had to scout around our friend circle in Bangalore for all new parents and would be parents to get leads to a good doctor. Once we had that list and I started calling up the clinics, further shocks awaited me!  There was no reputed gynecologist available to take the first appointment in less than 2-3 weeks advance. We had left UK when a ultrasound scan was already due and even the ultrasound scan appointments were not available leass than 2-3 weeks in advance. This started to seriously unnerve me. So we took a "walk-in appointment" (whatever that means).With no choice we waited for our turn to come. We had taken an appointment with Dr Praveena Shenoy because Manipal hospital was where we wanted to deliver the baby and Dr Praveena was the most well known gynecologist in Manipal. However our appointment was at her private clinic and it was a one hour exhausting drive in mad Bangalore traffic from my house. The waiting room of her clinic was stuffed with people and as her husband Arvind Shenoy practiced pediatrics in the same clinic there were many small children present with all the noise unavoidable where you have an ensemble of small children. Comparing with the rather empty and quiet NHS waiting rooms in Scotland, I felt heavy at heart of  having made the wrong decision to have moved back to India for a "better experience" !

Now we came to know that a walk-in appointment meant that you were "allowed" to walk-in on that particular day but there was not time guarantee of when you will be seen by the doctor!. It was quite a long wait and it was almost when I was about to raise my voice with the recpetionist that our turn came. Since our return from Scotland it had been going from bad to worse. Only till this point in time - The moment when we entered Dr Praveena Shenoy's consultation room. From this point on the curve took a steep turn upwards!
She greeted us with a smile and I was impressed right away as she looked at our case papers from UK and read them with perfect ease. Even though the format and presentation of UK reports was very different, she could read out all the important details instantly. Her affectionate tone of voice, constant smile and an authoratative, protective behaviour made you feel as if you were not with a doctor but with some close relative who was first your close kin and it was only incidental that she was also one of the most reputed gynecologist in Bangalore.

Our smug faces lit up. I could see my wife feeling safe and secure about the medical care around her upcoming baby for the first time since we had arrived in India. I who by now was cursing me to have come back was finally breathing easy.

Our next appointment with Praveena Shenoy was in her new cloudnine clinic on airport road. This place had a large waiting room. Pediatrics waiting room was on a different floor now! It was squeaky clean and grand with large seating area with leather sofas and a amiable quiet ambience. The appointment again was highly satisfying. She answered all or queries and doubts with sharp precision and compassionate attitude. I could finally feel I had found my one-person NHS in India, someone with whom I could entrust all medical care of my wife and upcoming kid and sleep easy.We decided to also deliver the baby in Cloudnine instead of Manipal.

My wife was in her ninth month when one day she complained that she was not feeling any movements of the baby. This was a serious issue. This lack of movement had started around afternoon. By the time we were sure that yes indeed there were no movements, it was already 12:30 in the night. Now here is the part that I loved. In my relatives and friend circles I have many doctors and I know that none of them will pick  their phone for a call incoming from an unknown number any time in the day because there are so many patients bugging them unnecessarily.  This is a well known thought now and the helpless patient community in India has been sufficiently disciplined to not expect to be able to talk to their doctor during a emergency.
It was almost by mistake that I dialled the cell number of Dr Praveena Shenoy at that time in the night. And violla!, there she was, on the phone guiding me on what to do!

During the delivery Cloudnine allowed me into the operation theatre and I  was even offered to cut the chord of my baby.You need to go through this experience to really understand what it feels like. We got discharged from hospital after 2 days. A few weeks later we went for a last checkup with Dr Praveena Shenoy. Her personality is so pervasive that I almost felt sad that this was our last appointment with her and that we were not going to meet her again. It felt as if a protective cover was being removed from over my head. However with the baby delivered healthy and well into this world there was no need of this protective cover. The job was done.

I am thankful to God that he is still making people like Dr Praveena Shenoy who love their work and do it with complete dedication and honesty. First few weeks of coming back to India I was feeling really lost and had almost surrendered any hopes of a great experience with the birth of my child. It was my good fortune that I got into right hands and it would have been very different, had I got an appointment with some other doctor earlier and had gone with them! Therefore if you decide to have a baby in Bangalore my suggestion is that at least meet Dr Shenoy once.