SYABAS to Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for calling for world standard user-friendly facilities
for hospitals in the country.
He made this remark during his
visit last Thursday to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) in the capital.
The Prime Minister was there to
launch HKL’s specialist clinic and ambulatory care centre.
“We must make this hospital
user-friendly in all aspects,” The Star quoted him as saying.
The country’s number one man also
stressed that improvements must start in hospitals’ car parks.
No one would’ve appreciated the
Prime Minister’s concerns more than persons with disabilities and the elderly –
especially those who have walking difficulties and in wheelchairs.
Apart from whatever conditions
they may be suffering from, often just to get into a hospital building itself
can be quite a torturous affair!
The following are some
suggestions on how hospitals can be more friendly to persons and patients with
permanent handicaps:
Handicapped
Friendly Car Park:
Ø Make
sure you have enough of them. In a hospital setting, it would make good sense
to have “more” rather than “less” of them as needless to say, more disabled
drivers would likely be found in such places than elsewhere.
Ø Place them
directly next to the hospital entrances. This may present an awkward moment to relocate
the hospital director’s or some other hot shot’s slot who usually gets the best
spot in the area. They should not be placed anywhere else where physically
disabled patients would be forced to accomplish totally needless “Olympic stunts”
just to get into the hospitals. Some situations have actually caused blood
pressure readers and stethoscopes to go berserk and doctors to go
white-in-the-face until we explain our “ordeal” to them. Never put them in
places where patients have to cross the road. We may unwittingly end up in
another clinic like the emergency instead of what we originally went there for.
Semi-paralysed legs (with crutch and walking-sticks users) and weak hands for
wheelchair users can suddenly freeze for many reasons with oncoming traffic so
this should be avoided.
Ø Handicapped
car parks, especially when they are limited, should be made available to those
who they are strictly reserved for: wheelchair users and those with walking
difficulties. The blind, Deaf and learning disabled persons can either be
dropped off or disembark in regular parking slots with their helpers.
Ø They
should come with a shelter. As disabled people usually take time to get in and
out, a covered car park will effectively protect them from the elements which
can be harmful to their conditions.
Ø Prompt
action should be taken when disabled car parks are abused. A generous fine of RM100
or more should be imposed. The money collected can be donated to a charity of
the hospital’s choice as part of their corporate social responsibility
programme.
Ø Wheelchairs
should also be made available easily near the car parks should patients require
them. Ideally they should be the type where certain parts can be dismantled to
the needs of each user. The wheelchairs should be regularly maintained.
Dilapidated ones should be promptly replaced.
Special
Training for Hospital Helpers. No amount of good facilities can
be truly effective if the people who are offering them are not up to the level
with them as well.
Here are some pointers that can
make a difference:
Ø Parking
attendants, security guards and hospital assistants should always provide their
service courteously and with a smile. They should never bring their problems to
work. Persons who are ill, with disabilities or the elderly need positive
reinforcements in their lives. It helps to go a long way to stay on top of
their struggles each day. They have been many instances where “helpers” at car
parks have been grumpy, rude and even refuse to help unload wheelchairs of
disabled drivers from the booth. Some even pretend not to look at them
beckoning at them for assistance.
Ø Frontline
care providers should be given a basic training on disability. They should have
a working understanding of what disability and illness is all about and how it
affects people. For example, not everyone who uses a wheelchair is unable to
walk and not everyone who are paralysed are unable to feel pain. They should be
taught how to lift a person if necessary to how to handle wheelchairs and so
on.
Ø Needless
to say, every hospital should treat their frontline care staff with the highest
respect and appreciation. After all, it is they who first convey to each
visitor of the hospital how the rest of their experience is going to be. They
are many patients who may forget their doctors but not the front door staff who
help them from the moment they arrive there until they have left.
The End.
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