I spent one night at the ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) hospital (ex-Royal Navy) at Vacoas yesterday. A fish bone got stuck in my throat at dinner time. That was a fine bone of a small fish called “vielle rouge”.

I was having dinner unusually late. My system was still on the old clock while we stepped into summer time last week. We tried old granny’s method, taking lumps of dry bread and rice, to get it out; no success. The bone was indeed stubborn. My son drove me to the hospital.

The doctor could not locate the intruder in my throat. “Sorry,” he said “you’ll have to stay.” I had no option. After the formalities an attendant brought me to the male ward. A nurse then brought me to Queen Victoria hospital at Candos for an x-ray. When I came back at the ENT ward it was already past 11.00 pm.

The ENT specialist examined me in this morning. “Lay down on the couch,” he said in a hard voice while he asked the nurse to bring the tools. “Tilt your head backwards and open your mouth.”

I couldn’t bear the presence of the forceps in my mouth. It’s nauseating and I was indeed uncomfortable. “Please understand that you must co-operate else we’ll need to resort to complete anesthesia,” said one nurse. “And this is not without risks.”

I started getting more apprehensive. But I controlled myself. I took a deep breath and relaxed. The surgeon drove the forceps down the throat after a couple of attempts. I yelled with pain. “How do you feel, Sir?” he asked.

I sat up and made a swallowing gesture. There was no more pricking sensation. “OK, you can go home now,” the surgeon uttered in a smile. He prescribed some antibiotics and painkillers. I was relieved to be discharged.

It was my first stay in a hospital. I always dread staying in hospitals. Those who’ve had such experience will tell you how uncomfortable it is to be amidst patients whining with pain and snoring at night, especially when you are struggling to sleep. And when you have to go for washing it’s yet another chore.

Any experience out there?

Alfa King Memories

At 2.00 am on Sunday 26 October this year the clocks in Mauritius read 3.00 am. The country stepped into the summer time concept practiced in many countries. Government aims primarily to save on energy costs as it expects a reduction in the demand of electricity supply at peak hour in the evening. This measure will last until 2.00 am on 29 March 2009 and it is said to be on a pilot basis.

The introduction of this measure however didn’t go without controversial voices from various quarters. Will the electricity charges go down in real terms? What will happen to those religious beliefs that attach special importance on birth dates and specific prayer times? Will it not impact negatively on the health of people with a disturbance in the circadian rhythm? These and many other questions are still not clear in the minds of the common people for whom it means no more that getting up earlier in the morning.

Mauritius has its own specificity with a diversity of cultural heritage. In the absence of prior study on the real impacts of this new system we will have to wait for the answers at the end of summer time. Let’s hope the government comes up with a comprehensive feedback on the practical implications of this innovation to find out whether these are in consonance with the main objective. Only then can it come up with a definite stand on the implementation of such measure in the future.

It’s worth mentioning that such measure was implemented for the first time in the history of Mauritius in 1982 when the MMM-PSM alliance won all the seats at the national elections. A spokesman who was Minister of Energy at that time said in a radio broadcast last week that it did indeed bring about a decrease in the electricity demand by 5% which was quite conclusive in his opinion.

Alfa King Memories