Patient-interpreter relations go beyond words in Gurugram

Medical interpreters have been making life easier for the tens of thousands of international patients who arrive in Gurugram every year.

When Helen, a native of Cameroon in West and Central Africa, first came to Gurugram in May this year, she wanted to shop for sarees for her friends and relatives back home. Since Helen didn’t speak Hindi or knew her way through the city, she was accompanied by a 33-year-old local, Javed Akhtar, who helped her bargain and get a good deal. Helen even managed to pick up a few Hindi words in the process such as ‘haan ji’ and ‘theek hai’.

The interpreters, hired by private hospitals, help foreign patients through their stay here, and, in the process, become an inseparable part of their life in India. (Picture for representation)

Four months down, Helen can’t thank Akhtar enough, not only for helping her with sarees but also for being her husband’s medical interpreter — which is how she met him. Medical interpreters have been making life easier for the tens of thousands of international patients who arrive in the city every year.

These interpreters, hired by private hospitals, help foreign patients through their stay here, and, in the process, become an inseparable part of their life in India. Helen came to the city with her husband who was suffering from a brain tumour.

“I was not familiar with the language here, so Fortis Hospital, where my husband was being treated, assigned us a medical interpreter who assisted us each time we came back,” she said. That was Akhtar. Many international patients such as Helen speak no Hindi or English and depend on interpreters to discuss their ailments with doctors. But the job goes beyond just translating languages.

It sometimes requires receiving patients at the airport, taking care of their accommodation needs, guiding patients around the hospital, even helping them with shopping.

The total number of international patients visiting India in 2017 was 4.95 lakh, according to the ministry of tourism. Most of the patients are from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran, Uzbekistan and Russia. Health care executives say Gurugram is a preferred destination for some of these patients.

While international patients said they have to save up money or take loans to seek treatment in India, and that interpreters are an added expense, they’re all for it as it saves a lot of time in running around and figuring things out by themselves. And Indian health care facilities are better than those in the home countries of these visitors; they also cost a lot less than comparable facilities in first world countries.

Interpreters see themselves as support systems for patients. “Interpreters make one feel at home and ease. Having a support system when you’re on a surgical bed reduces a lot of tension,” said Barkat Ali, an Arabic interpreter in the city.

“Our job involves more than just language translation. We also have to offer practical and emotional support to the patients,” added Ali. “I also have to make sure I don’t say anything more or less than what the doctor has said,” he added.

Interpreters don’t have a medical background; most have studied the language they interpret. They are usually employed by the hospitals and earn between ₹20,000 and ₹25,000 per month, which can go up to ₹80,000, depending on the number of languages known and the level of difficulty.

Sahil Sharma, 25, is a Russian interpreter at Fortis who holds a masters degree in the Russian language and even went to Moscow for a PhD in it. He attends four Russian patients on an average day and his work involves picking patients up from the airport, assisting them in accommodation and helping them understand medical procedure or papers. Sharma said the job is intensive and requires a good understanding of medicine, a rich vocabulary to convey medical terms and a deep understanding of how certain emotions are expressed in different cultures. “If I have to tell a patient that he/she is dying, I have to do so after coming to terms with my own emotions first which isn’t easy,” he said.

The job comes with its own set of challenges with international patients often wanting quick results.

Sharma said that living in Moscow for a few months taught him a lot about visual cues such as body language. He also learns on the job every day. “I picked up some harmless swear words from a patient a few months ago and that has helped me have an effortless and friendly conversation with my patients,” he said.

Shruti Khurana has been running a website that provides assistance to international patients. She has a team of four translators who freelance with major private hospitals such as Max Hospital in the city. Patients can also get in touch with her before they arrive in the country. Khurana said that while their primary job is to interpret, they sometimes are also asked to accompany the visitors to Ajmer or Agra. She has also accompanied patients on such lesiurely visits. “I have been to Agra to see the Taj Mahal more than 100 times,” said Khurana.

Sometimes the patients, when they are back home, write to Khurana and her team with marriage proposals. “I believe the patients develop a certain bond during their most difficult times with us and the country,” she said.