Hospital Blues

Patients normally get admitted in those hospitals where their doctor recommends. Five star doctors will send you to the most commercialized hospitals where the treatment could give you one more heart attack especially if you are not covered under health insurance.

Such hospitals are more like hotels where you can stay comfortably. There are good facilities for visitors too, a beautiful cafeteria, a large luxurious lobby and even a beautiful garden. Rooms are large and spacious with flat screen TV and a comfortable bed for the visitor.

Then there are hospitals for middle-class people that might offer very good treatment but their services plunge.

There used to be time when patients were given fresh set of clothes everyday during their stay at hospital but not anymore. Nowadays the hospital clothes are given to patients only few hours before they go to operation theatre and one more day after that. Rest of the stay one is expected to wear their house clothes. That’s because of cost cutting, so although the hospital bills escalate, there is poor service.

All hospitals expect the patients to bring their family/friends to look after them. The hospital staff is responsible only for doing their rounds into the wards, recommending the medications and reporting the progress to the resident doctor. Relatives have to buy the medicines, take care of the patient and be there with the patient 24/7. This becomes very difficult because family and friends have their own things to do, in his fast pace life, not many have time to nurse the sick. Therefore you either appoint a private nurse or get your own maid.

The patient is encourage to vacate the room as soon as possible to make beds available for the new patient. Most of the hospitals rooms are occupied and one has to book rooms in advance.

The general wards are in worse conditions where you will find some people even sleeping on the floor. One bathroom shared by eight patients and their family/friends. Sometimes the hospitals may not have proper water supply too.

Class division is very wide. While the rich enjoy the comfort and luxury, the poor suffer under unhealthy circumstance. Pain is common to both but the treatment and care varies from person to person.