Unity lessons from hospital ward

By G Vinod - Free Malaysia Today

COMMENT As a retiree with no medical insurance, my father was warded in Kulim General Hospital after complaining of chest pains last week.
Financial constraint being the only problem, it was best that he got himself warded in a government hospital, in order to get medical assistance at a lower price.
The experience of looking after my father, is something I must share with all as it involves ordinary people like you and I.
Ward 8 of Kenanga is a third class room at Kulim Hospital. Normally, the ward accommodates eight patients in the room, with one bathroom and one toilet.
However, it seems the hospital was over-crowded at that time. The usual eight-patient room was congested with 10 patients, with my dad being one of the extra baggage.
Though the H1N1 scare is still active, I noticed some patients were coughing and sneezing away in the congested room with no facial masks on. Even my dad contracted fever and sore throat a day after being admitted there.
At this juncture, I was wondering what if one of them actually had H1N1. If so, all 10 of the patients would have surely contracted the disease by then.
Though putting up a tough face, I can see the nurses are juggling very hard to cater for the needs of an extended number of sick people. Seeing that Ward 8 was over-crowded, I asked one of nurses on how much would it cost to transfer my dad to a second class room. The nurse politely told that even second class rooms are full!
Providing quality healthcare service is something any government in the world should look at seriously. Healthcare is one of the basic necessity for any individual and no taxpayer will ever complain if a huge sum is invested in the sector as long as the money is used to provide nothing but the best of services to those who are sick.
Admitedly, healthcare costs have escalated in the recent years. It is not a Malaysian phenomenon but happening all over the world due to greater technological advancement in the medical sector and rising demand by well-informed patients.
This is reflected in Malaysia when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak reduced the national healthcare expenditure by 4.8% from RM13.8b to RM13.1b in Budget 2010.
However, investing public healthcare service which has the people's interest at heart is more important than churning out billions to bail out Port Klang Free Zone which was mismanaged in the first place.
Colour blind patients
The entire scenario in the ward is not as deplorable as it may sound. I saw many elderly patients of various races and religious beliefs looking out for one another. The family members of certain patients asked another family to keep an eye on their loved ones when they are not around.
They also happily shared food stuffs such as fruits and biscuits among themselves. I even saw an elderly Indian man cracking jokes with a Malay man. They were definitely colour blind then.
I was amazed by the warm attitudes shown by the patients in the congested room. Despite being in a uncomfortable situation, the patients just made the best out of it.
The elderly patients saw their neighbours as a fellow person in need, regardless of their personal beliefs. This is more heart-warming and believable compared to any of the usual unity slogan we hear during election campaigns or when new leadership takes over the helm.
Perhaps we Malaysians can actually learn a thing or two from the elderly patients of Ward 8.

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G Vinod is a Free Malaysia Today team member.