Language no bar: Ludhiana nurse makes Iraqi patient feel at home

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 23

He felt at home and comfortable when he heard the words close to his heart — As-salaam alaykum. In an instant, he responded ‘Wa alaykumu as-salam “.

Haider (47) from Iraq had come to India for angioplasty and was feeling out of place due to the language and cultural barriers in India. He underwent the surgery at Fortis Hospital. It was Asha Osmond, the chief of the nursing staff, who made him feel at home because she knew the Arabic language.

Haider was hospital’s first patient from Iraq and the language barrier was making things difficult for him, as he could not converse in English also. Asha Osmond who had spent ten years in the Middle East was well-versed with the language and made things easy for him.

“I felt lost in the country because no one understood my language and I did not know English. I was feeling restless. The Chief of Nursing Staff came to my rescue. She understood my language and helped me to converse with doctors and other nurses,” he said.

Asha, a Christian by religion, said she had spent ten years in Middle East and worked at a government hospital there. “During my stay, I learnt Arabic. Prior to this, I was working at a hospital at Mohali and was Arabic translator,” said she.

Asha knows Hindi, Punjabi, English, Urdu and Arabic and was learning Pashtun, the language of people living in Afghanistan, before she came back to India. “I had learnt few basic words and sentences in Pashtun, but then I returned to India,” she said.

Asha said job opportunities were global and medical tourism was also increasing, so keeping the things in view, it would be an added advantage if those in the nursing profession learnt two to three popular foreign languages.

“Patients are coming for treatment from other countries and the language barriers always remain. Things become easy for the nursing staff if they are well-versed in foreign languages,” she said.

Haider was advised to get treatment in India for his blocked vessels at limbs. Angioplasty was done by Dr PS Sandhu, Senior Consultant and Intervention Cardiologist, Fortis Hospital, Ludhiana.