Shortage

February 2025 | Vol. 69, No. 1
Written by Aloki A. Mehta, LECOM OMS-III

Drip drip drip
The patient has E.coli
Symptomatic for 10 agonizing days
Severely dehydrated
With a potassium of 2.6

Drip drip drip
Only one bag, they reluctantly decide
They have to ration
The IV fluid supply
dwindling by the hour

Drip drip drip
Severe pain shoots through
Potassium chloride
Setting the veins ablaze
No buffer, no cushion
It burns

Drip drip drip
Helpless, I hold my mother
Pleading for her to keep
The IV in
It burns, it’s too much

Drip drip drip
She is begging
Give me something else, please.
No more fluids, they said
We do not have enough
Not even
for you

Then make it stop.

Hours pass
Feels like centuries
Depleted before
Replenished after

But the pain
It lingers
She tells them no more
Render them helpless
But they listen

They know
They need more IV fluids
For all their patients
But they don’t have enough
There still isn’t enough.