# Lab test

Birender was the first patient to walk into the PHC the next morning. This time, he was alone.

He did not see Gayatri, but heard someone in the lab. He walked over, and saw a young man being kept company by many machines, and a smartphone.

Birender recognized Mehdi Hassan's voice floating through the quiet morning. "Are you Kavi?". That was the name Gayatri had given him yesterday.

The young man turned, and bestowed an artless smile on Birender. "I am Aman Changezi, lab technician by day, poet by night."

While Birender was still absorbing this introduction, Aman continued, "Is your name Birender? Did you fast properly? Any tea in the morning? No? That's good. Did you drink water? What? You drank water? I'm joking, that's ok." Birender barely managed to nod along. "I thought kavis were supposed to be quiet and reticent, " he mused. Aman quickly located Birender's record, and asked him to take a seat.

With efficient, economical movements, covered with a deluge of words — "Do you like Ghazals? Farida Khanum? She is a gem! My father says to me, 'Aman, stop woolgathering! Keep tabs on your bank account!' He has no soul. What use is a bank account without a soul?", Aman took a blood sample from Birender's left arm, placed a cotton swab on the injection site, and transferred the sample to a vial.

Birender was mesmerized.

The lab technician needs to see a filtered list of patients who were referred for lab tests. Since some lab tests require fasting, it would be helpful if users could see the workload being placed on the lab in the morning hours, to avoid overloading the lab technician.

Aman emptied a glucose packet in a glass of water, and offered it to Birender. "2 hours! Please come back in 2 hours for another blood sample. And no tea!" Birender nodded and exited the lab.

Two hours later, he was back. This time, the PHC was buzzing with activity. He checked in at Gayatri's desk. She asked him to take a seat on the bench outside the lab. 15 minutes later, he was back with Aman. Luckily, the hubbub prevented further discussion of music or souls. After the second blood draw—this time from his right arm—Aman gave Birender a curt nod, and said, "Report tomorrow! You will get an SMS."

Birender walked home, humming¹ to himself, "Mohabbat karne waale..."

Lab tests may require multiple visits per day. The system should be able to flag that a particular patient is in-process.