Make hospitals disabled-friendly

Thursday January 20, 2011

Access denied

Hospitals and clinics should be accessible to the disabled.

ALL of us know what to do when we fall ill – go and see the doctor, of course.

However, if you happen to be in a wheelchair like me, doing exactly that may not be as easy as one might imagine.

Hardly a fortnight into a brand new year, I found myself being confronted by the first major challenge of 2011. The lower part of my left jaw had swelled up. The gums, teeth and throat in the same area were painful, too. When the pain started to spread to my left ear and slowly towards my eye, I got worried. I realised I had to seek medical attention at once.

Hospitals and clinics need to be more disabled-friendly.

My first instinct was to go and see a general practitioner at a nearby clinic. However, even before one is able to do that, a wheelchair-user will need some kind of assistance to get into a car to go to the clinic for treatment.

I was lucky. My pal Andrew Martin rushed to my assistance.

But my problems were far from over. At the clinic, all the parking lots outside were taken by nondisabled drivers patronising the shops and cafes in the area.

It is sad to note that a clinic that is supposed to serve sick people, including the elderly and the disabled, had not thought of reserving a parking lot for such patients. This can be easily arranged for between the Petaling Jaya local council (MBPJ) and the clinics. Clinics can readily obtain the exact specifications for a disabled-friendly parking lot from MBPJ’s planning and engineering departments.

Access into the building was a nightmare as there were no wheelchair ramps. The doctor, however, was an angel. Realising that his outfit did not cater to wheelchairs, he came into our car to examine me.

This may have worked for the both of us there and then, but all medical clinics really ought to look into providing wheelchair access for their patients.

Failure to do so would deny disabled and elderly patients access to medical treatment.

My problem didn’t clear up after seeing the GP. Apparently it turned out to be a job for the dentist.

Looking for a dentist who was situated on the ground floor was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Nearly all the dentists that I called up had their practices on the first floor. The only one I discovered on the ground floor had a steep and dangerous ramp leading into the clinic.

There was another clinic with disabledfriendly facilities in Kuala Lumpur. However, the fees were beyond my budget.

It seems very wrong to me that one has to pay through his nose for some basic wheelchair-friendly facilities that stand to benefit all types of people. How would these doctors and dentists meet the needs of an ever-growing population of elderly and disabled persons in our society?

I finally found a ground floor dental clinic in Klang, Selangor, about 30km from my home.

Unlike most dental clinics, the treatment room was spacious,with easy manoeuvrability for wheelchairs.

My problem was over as soon as the offending tooth was extracted. But I couldn’t believe I had to travel all the way when the dentistry department of University Malaya Medical Centre is just five minutes away from my house.

Trying to get there in a wheelchair is a “hell-on-earth” experience.

There are no clear signs inside the main hospital to lead a patient to the department. One has to be a paralympian to push one’s wheelchair – without assistance – for what seems like forever to access the new building from the old one.

There are some places where the pathways are deserted.

Imagine suddenly facing a crisis there with no one to help you.

There are also heavy doors that a wheelchair-user has to wrestle with, in order to get in and out.

The pathway also brings the patient out onto the road before they can enter into the clinic.

Those who try to access the direct way are forced to look for a security guard located on another level to get him to come and open a gate to the department. The only lift to the department is just as elusive as the guard. It is concealed in the basement.

I brought these problems up to the public relations department a number of times over the years but I’m told the same story: the matter will be resolved once a new renovation takes place.

Well, try telling that to a pusfilled, decaying tooth that urgently needs to be extracted !