RECENTLY a good friend of mine was alarmed when I told her that I was going to the hospital.
She was naturally concerned about my health.
I reassured her that I was okay.
However, the purpose of my trip to the local hospital was to visit some disabled persons who were admitted there recently.
My going over to see them was part of my job as a Petaling Jaya city councillor, I explained.
“Why?” She blurted out. “Surely that’s not part of your duties?” She remarked.
My friend is able-bodied. She was not trying to be mean or unkind in anyway.
She was just concerned about my condition. She always worries when I push myself too far with my many responsibilities.
My friend’s remark got me thinking seriously about our attitudes towards visiting the sick in hospitals.
Why can’t it be part of the responsibilities of our local councillors, politicians and even local government officials to reach out to their constituents who are inside its walls?
I’m not talking about making visits to individuals only during a national disaster as a common practise that we see in our newspapers.
Let’s face it: It’s awfully hard to get a full picture of a situation or hear what people really have to say under the blinding glare of popping flashlights of a dozen cameras.
A private and one-to-one visit once in a while is far more effective as I discovered during my own trip last week. The two-hours I spent there was truly an eye-opening experience for me.
No sooner had I arrived, I was already confronted with a controversy. It almost immediately sent me flying into the public relations department.
The hospital had only one disabled-friendly parking spot at the entrance. Needless to say, for an institution where persons with wheelchairs are bound to frequent, this is most inadequate.
To make matters worse, the slot was occupied by a fancy and sleek BMW. The vehicle had no disabled sticker on it.
And one needn’t have to be, as they say, a rocket scientist to know that the driver was NOT a disabled person.
And as if that wasn’t noisome enough, I was told shortly afterwards by a doctor at the hospital that the car was owned by another doctor.
As unbelievable as this was, to be totally honest, I wasn’t all that surprised.
I happen to know of a very posh private hospital in Kuala Lumpur that allows its director’s driver to park his car in one of the two disabled parking slots provided by the hospital at its entrance.
I am flabbergasted at how ridiculous this all is.
Directors of caring institutions – and certainly doctors – who cater and care for sick, elderly and disabled patients ought to be the last persons on earth to need education about how essential disabled-friendly features are for people who need them.
There is no point in providing such facilities if we are not prepared to go all the way to ensure they are utilised for what they are meant for.
The good news over the whole episode was how it finally ended.
The PR team wasted no time in getting the offending vehicle out of the box in less than 15 minutes.
And I hope that if there is by any chance a problem for parking spaces for health professionals, hospital managements will do the appropriate thing to provide suitable and adequate parking for its staff.
They must not allow such problems to affect the needs of its patients and clients.
Despite this unpleasant encounter, I learnt a lot by meeting some of the patients at the hospital that day.
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. If left untreated, it could kill him.
Despite this, he has been a tremendous source of inspiration for many other disabled persons through his work in helping others live a positive life.
There was also another gentleman whose hip was suddenly dislocated. Even as a disabled person, he is known for his work not only with the handicapped but also helping single mothers and the able bodied community as well.
Even as they, and several others who are officially registered as disabled persons by the government, are waiting eagerly to get better soon, they are worried when the time comes for them to get out.
Even though it is often said that disabled persons are entitled to free medical treatment in government hospitals, they are anxious about the kind of bill that the hospital will slap on them.
Even though the particular hospital treats disabled persons as outpatients for free, the policy ironically, doesn’t apply for admissions.
Something is clearly very wrong here. Let’s please get this fixed at once.
The End
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