Gee, and you thought that I’m just being catchy by playing around the words ‘hospital’ and ‘hospitable’. Catchy title aside, there is something which I should highlight, and let this be a lesson for improvement. Think of it as a note from a concerned citizen (you guys should be lucky that I did not put this up on ‘Aduan Rakyat’ or something.
Just a quick recap; my dad was admitted for 22 days in a government hospital (which by the end of this note might explain the title). Another thing, the source of this note that I’m about to type would be my mum’s conversation with pretty much all the visitors during CNY (family friends, cousins), so it may be inaccurate someway or another, but it’s the gist that’s important. So it was his last day (I was at work that day, sorry Papa) when the doctor finally gave him the good news, ‘Awak dah boleh balik’ at about 11am, if I’m not mistaken. There are still some paperwork needed to be done, but other than that he’s good to go. So my mum pun start la bersiap-siap, kemas2 all personal belongings of my dad. They then waited at the sofa where they put the TV.
About 12pm or so, my mum mentioned she saw the nurses and the hospital staff started to kemas-kemas my dad’s bed. They then thought, ‘Oh ni dah start kemas2 ni, siap2 untuk org lain nak masuk la ni’. Very efficient indeed. My dad was also served lunch, but then since his bed is already made ‘unavailable’ for him to lepak2, he ended up having lunch by the TV. My mum thought that it won’t take long before everything is all set.
She was wrong.
Come 5pm, she approached the front desk of the ward, asking the status of my dad’s discharge. After some time after being told that you can leave, you wonder if indeed you can leave. The feedback obtained was ‘Pakcik dah boleh keluar, tunggu sekejap ye.’ My dad started to feel uneasy, but still maintaining his cool. You can’t afford to burst into flames if you’re just that weak. So they waited, waited, and waited some more....
Until 8pm, the staffs ended their day shift and the night shift nurses arrived. Again, my mum and dad asked them ‘Boleh keluar ke tak nih?’, adding a more serious tone to it. They receive the same answer, ‘Pakcik tunggu dulu ye’. My dad at that moment got grumpier (for God’s sake, you made him waited for what 8 hours only to settle his discharge papers, it’s only fair that he didn’t burst sooner!)
9pm; it is inevitable. My dad started shouting at the staffs ‘Saya ni boleh keluar ke tak ni?! Kalau tak boleh cakap la tak boleh! Apsal lama sangat ni!’ (I was not there, so I’m not sure of the exact words, which again..not that important). Long story short, after about 9 hours of waiting, barulah all those paperwork settled. Fail la government hospital when it comes to this small2 things. Memang fail abis.
The story does not end there. My dad is still weak to walk on his own, so my mum asked for a wheelchair’ Their response? ‘Boleh pakcik nak pinjam wheelchair, tapi nanti lepas turun, tolong bawak naik balik wheelchair ke tingkat 7 ye’. WHAT THE FUCK? Sorry about the caps lock, but I was just furious about the way they responded. So my sister then terpaksa la push the wheelchair on her own to the 7th floor, while my mum and my dad waited in the car.
Again, I wish to emphasize here, when it comes to the human factor, government hospital memang fail. FAIL ABIS LAH SENANG CERITA!. Upon hearing that story, I can’t help myself but thinking ‘I won’t go to a government hospital for my treatment. I’ll invest in some medical insurance or something, but I’ll want a decent, proper treatment with utmost respect, warmth. For crying out loud, when you’re sick, the last thing you want to have is to have people pissing you off. So, please lah, just because you’re the government hospital does not mean you can treat sick people like crap...Sort out your work process la, sort out your manpower and resources. Don’t let us consumers pay the price of dissatisfaction amongst the staff which leads to the sucky treatments
So yeah, to the staff of Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, on behalf of my papa, I thank you for your hospitality (it is both a sincere thanks and a sarcasm)
