"Well, Miss Barner, as you can see, Nurse Tasha has tried to reach the emergency contacts of the patient you brought in, but none of the contacts picked up Nurse Tasha's call... even after calling multiple times." Doctor Tim said to Kira warmly while observing the reaction on her face.
"So?" Kira asked while raising her eyebrows.
Seeing that her facial reaction wasn't that of impatience or anger, Doctor Tim cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak again—"Miss Barner, since we couldn't reach any of her emergency contacts, why don't you step in as her guardian first?"
"What?! You want me to step in as her guardian?" Kira asked Doctor Tim, her voice high with a hint of shock and incredulity.
"If we don't have a guardian to register this patient and pay the emergency fees, I'm afraid we can't start treatment on her." Doctor Tim said to Kira with a soft but firm voice.
Kira opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came out. She held her chin and fell into deep thought.
After thinking for a while, she sighed deeply and said, "Fine! Since I started this, I have to finish it. What do you need me to do?"
"Here! Take her National Identity Card and go to the registration office to register her, then pay the emergency treatment fees at any of the hospital's pay points." Doctor Tim replied to Kira warmly as he handed Rachel's National Identity Card to her.
Taking the National Identity Card from Doctor Tim, Kira turned towards the exit of the Accident and Emergency department and walked out with heavy steps.
As she walked towards the registration office, she couldn't help but think about how much the emergency treatment fees might cost.
She was lost in her thoughts, but her legs still kept on walking and stopped right in front of the window of the registration office.
Seated inside the registration office and in front of the registration window was a young lady with hair as black as a crow and eyes as blue as the sky. She was dressed in a black skirt and white blouse, looking professional. Her face wore a warm and approachable expression.
Seeing a young girl standing in front of her window, she greeted and smiled at her before saying, "Hello, Miss, how can I help you?"
When she got no response, the female registration officer called out again, "Miss? Miss? Miss?!"
Snapping her fingers in front of the young girl's face, she raised her voice a little and said, "Back to earth, girl!"
Kira snapped out of her reverie and looked at the female registration officer with a face flushed with embarrassment.
Taking a deep breath and getting herself together, she smiled at the female registration officer and said, "Hi, my name is Kira Barner, and I'm here to register a patient. Here's her National Identity Card."
Collecting the National Identity Card from Kira, the fingers of the female registration officer started dancing across her keyboard as she filled in the necessary things she needed to fill in.
"Is she at the Accident and Emergency Department?" The female registration officer asked warmly without taking her eyes from her computer screen.
"Yes. She was involved in a car accident. A hit and run." Kira answered with a warm voice.
"Oh." The female registration officer muttered softly.
"Your phone number, please." She said, while looking at Kira inquisitively.
"Oh, my phone number is +851-771662087." Kira answered warmly.
"Hope your number is always reachable?" The female registration officer asked softly as her slender fingers continued to dance across her keyboard.
"Yes, it's always reachable." Kira answered warmly.
"Good." The female registration officer said, her voice warm as she continued to type.
In no time, she printed a medical case file and handed it to Kira, then she took out a Shen Hospital patient card from her drawer and handed it to Kira before saying, "I've registered patient Rachel Shen. What I gave you is a medical case file and Rachel's patient card. Go to any pay point and pay the sum of sixty-five thousand Gilead dollars. After paying the money, go to the doctor attending to Rachel and give the medical case file to him so that he can start treating her."
"Sixty-five thousand Gilead dollars?!" Kira asked with her voice laced with incredulity as she stared at the female registration officer in shock.
The female registration officer, noticing the shocked expression on Kira's face, sighed deeply and said, "Yes, dear. That's the price of the emergency treatment bill. I advise you to hurry so that the doctors can start treatment immediately."
"But that's too much." Kira replied, her voice laced with despair.
"There's nothing I can do about it. It's the price, and if you don't pay it, your patient would be left unattended. You don't want that, do you?" The female registration officer said to Kira while staring at her inquisitively with her eyebrows raised.
"Alright, I'll go and pay for the emergency treatment now." Kira replied weakly as she glanced at the medical case file and Rachel's patient card.
Taking a deep breath, she said goodbye to the female registration officer and walked to a nearby pay point.
"Hello, how may I help you?' Came the voice of the lady seated behind the pay-point window with a computer and keyboard in front of her.
"I'm here to pay the emergency treatment fees of patient Rachel Shen." Kira said weakly before handing her debit card to the lady behind the pay-point window with trembling hands.
The lady inserted Kira's debit card into her POS machine and then handed the POS machine to Kira, asking her to input her PIN.
Kira took several deep breaths before bringing her trembling fingers closer to the buttons of the POS machine and typing in her PIN. After typing in her PIN, she handed the POS machine back to the lady.
The lady pressed the green enter key and waited for the POS machine to show approved before handing back Kira's debit card to her alongside a payment receipt.
Without wasting time, Kira ran straight to the Accident and Emergency department.
Stepping inside, her gaze fell on Doctor Tim, who was talking to Nurse Tasha. Taking a deep breath, she walked towards Doctor Tim and handed him the medical case file and the payment receipt alongside Rachel's patient card.
"Oh, I see you've paid. Very good." Doctor Tim glanced at the payment receipt and handed it back to Kira before scribbling some things on the medical case file and handing it to Nurse Sukie.
Turning his gaze to Kira, he locked gazes with her and said, "You came just in time. First of all, I'd like to thank you on behalf of patient Rachel Shen because you've done a great job stepping in as her guardian.
"No need to thank me. I just lent a helping hand to someone in need." Kira replied to Doctor Tim with a dismissive wave.
Seeing that she didn't seem bothered about the weight of a guardian, he smiled at her and said, "Alright then."
After a brief pause, he continued again-- "I and my three other colleagues you met earlier have done all the emergency treatment needed. She's lost a lot of blood, and she also needs emergency surgery. I've already administered anesthetics to her; we were only waiting for you to arrive so that you can sign the surgery consent form."
"Will she be alright after the surgery?" Kira asked softly, her voice and watery eyes laced with concern.
"Yes, we have elite surgeons to handle the surgery here at Shen Hospital, so relax. She's going to be fine. Just sign it so that we can roll her immediately to the operating room." Doctor Tim answered with a warm voice.
"How sure are you that she's going to come out of the operating room alive? I heard people die in operating rooms." Kira asked, her voice laced with worry and anxiety.
"Miss Barner, you are at Shen Hospital, not any mediocre hospital, so just trust us and sign the surgery consent form. Stop dawdling because there's no time to waste." Doctor Tim answered Kira with his voice laced with urgency.
"Alright, I'll trust you and leave her in your hands." Kira said to Doctor Tim before resolutely signing the surgery consent form.
As soon as the surgery consent form was signed, Doctor Tim immediately gave orders to the nurses to roll Rachel into the operating room before walking away to go and prepare for the surgery.
Kira followed the nurses until they got close to the operating room. Just when she was about to go further, the nurses prevented her from entering the operating room and told her to wait outside.
Five minutes later, Doctor Tim appeared with his green surgical gown and glanced at Kira with an assuring look before walking into the operating room.
Kira watched as the doors of the operating room were shut and the "Ongoing Surgery" lights turned on before she finally sat down and fixed her gaze on the doors of the operating room with a tense look on her face.