Hospital visit

Thursday November 13, 2008

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Hospital visit
WHEEL POWER WITH ANTHONY THANASAYAN

Councillors, politicians and government officials should reach out to their constituents who are in hospital.

RECENTLY a friend of mine was alarmed when I told her I was going to the hospital. However, the purpose of my trip was to visit some disabled persons who were admitted there. It was part of my job as a Petaling Jaya city councillor, I explained to my friend.

“Why?” she blurted out. “Surely that’s not part of your duties?”

Her remark had me thinking about our attitude towards visiting the sick in hospital. Why can’t it be part of the responsibility of local councillors, politicians and government officials to reach out to their constituents who are in hospital?

I’m not talking about making visits to individuals during a national disaster, which is common practice.

A private visit is more effective as I discovered during my trip last week.

The hospital had only one disabled-friendly parking lot at the entrance. For an institution where persons with wheelchairs are bound to frequent, this is inadequate. To make matters worse, the slot was occupied by a sleek BMW. I was told that the car belonged to a doctor at the hospital.

I wasn’t surprised. I know of a posh private hospital in Kuala Lumpur that allows its director to park his car in one of the two disabled parking lots at the entrance of the hospital.

This is ridiculous. Directors of institutions – and certainly doctors – who cater and care for sick, elderly and disabled ought to be the last people on earth to need education on how essential disabled-friendly features are for people who need them.

There is no point in providing such facilities if we do not ensure they are utilised accordingly.

I complained to the PR team and they wasted no time in getting the offending vehicle out of the box.

Despite this unpleasant encounter, I learnt a lot by meeting some of the patients at the hospital. I met an active paraplegic who had to lie in bed and on his stomach for a month (or more) because of a pressure sore. There was also another gentleman who dislocated his hip.

Even as they, and several others who are disabled, wait eagerly to be discharged, they are worried about the kind of bill the hospital will slap on them.

It has often been said that disabled persons are entitled to free medical treatment in government hospitals. Ironically, the policy doesn’t apply for admissions.

Something is very wrong here, and it needs to be fixed.