Hospitals

Hospitals are reflective of the collectivistic cultural-values and traditions of any society. A civilization’s way of living their life can be looked, in its entire cycle, through an eye of a hospital. Hospitals are strange place. Few come out of it laughing, while others come out crying. Word hospital have the same root as the word Hospitis – implying host or a place where sick and destitute are well received. Hospice and hospitality are some of the other words derived from the same root. 

 

Hospital can be a memorable place for those who go there for receiving a life. Health care staff can be a beacon of hope. With love and warmth, a mother receives her new born child. A father is showered with lot of blessings. The whole family, who is eagerly waiting for the good news, long faced and worried, is suddenly transformed.

 

Contrarily families get shattered when they are given the news of death. Like, birth, death is also celebrated with its own rituals. Just as in birth, people receive a body and soul wrapped in a white sheet; they receive a body wrapped in white sheet. Families surround the carcass in case of demise of their loved one. One can speak volumes about the deceased, in the manner carcass is handled. Attendants surround the body, refusing to leave it, while others want it to be disposed to the mortuary, at the earliest. Ultimately, it is disposed according to religious tradition of the deceased. 

 

All this happens in hospitals many, many times a day. Doctors and nurses are witness to this interaction – through out their working hours – though rarely paying attention.

 

In hospitals, you see people in pain. Witnessing pain can have paradoxical effect. It can make you more human, empathizing with the pain of other people. Pain can make a person more sensitive to emotion in others. Contrarily witnessing too much pain can also numb you to the point of callousness. All this can happen to people working in hospitals.

 

Generally the reverence we associate with a place like hospital seems to be missing. Some hospitals have become a pick-up point for prostitutes, while others are no less then blethrow house. We hear girls being raped in the hospitals. Similarly hospitals have become a den for thieves, political or other wise. The rich and powerful use their influence to malign the institution of hospital.

 

In our setting, are sick and down trodden people received with the same fervor as the word implies? It is hardly the case. One has to, only, visit any hospital, to see and feel the alienation it conveys. This is representative of the administrations apathy and its neglectful psyche.

 

From the stage of designing, construction and maintenance hospitals are a picture of dismay. They are either constructed on places which do not enable healthiness or slums grow around them, further deteriorating the status of water supply, sewerage, solid waste management. 

 

Consider two major public hospitals, Jinnah Postgraduate medical center (JPMC) and Civil Hospital, Karachi. JPMC having a federal affiliation is expected to cater to the needs of a large section of society. However, its catchments are slums in and around the vicinity. If one visits the hospitals, there are pools of sewerage water lying in and around the emergency department. Emergency department in itself is in the section of the hospital which makes access some what difficult. Problem of car parking and absence of designated space adds to the difficulty of visitors. Similarly there are no good quality, in terms of hygiene, cafeterias to serve the visitors and attendants.

 

Similar problems afflict civil hospital. Karachi. Situated in the crowded vicinity of old Karachi city, there is limited room for expansion. Access to the hospital is made difficult due to gridlock through out the day. In case of emergencies, time can be a critical factor in saving a life. Emergency physician tells us that there is a critical period after an accident, usually an hour, which can be a window of opportunity. Any medical intervention in this hour can be a matter of life and death for the victim. With the traffic situation and the access routes, these hospitals are ill suited to serve the needs of the community.

 

As opposed to these two public hospitals, consider two private sector hospitals in Karachi – Aga Khan University hospital, Karachi and Liaquat National Hospital. Karachi. Though these hospitals are well spaced and designed, they cater to the needs of only those who could afford to pay. This contradicts the charter of health equity. Though, technically, health care provision is a responsibility of the government. People are entitled to care, irrespective of their race, creed or financial status.

 

If one talks to a qualified construction engineer, he would tell us that hospital should be constructed with an earthquake resistant design. Material should also be of a nature which cause least damage in case of such natural calamity. This is due to the reason that hospitals house sick, dependent and vulnerable population, incapable to fending for themselves. In times of recent earthquake in 2005, we have witnessed the pathetic situation in which hospitals crumbled to the ground, proving to be a graveyard for those housing the institution of hospitals.   

 

In general, hospitals have different sections and department. Each has its own unique demands. People working in emergency department are often given to working on the edge. Time can be a critical factor in matter of life and death, therefore early reaction can make a difference. In their lives this, then, becomes there habitual state of affair.

 

Orthopedic surgeons are required to reduce a fracture, applying force to reverse the trauma injury. This is reflected in their behavior and conversation – antagonizing people whom they come in contact. Medical specialists have their unique way of inquiry about the cause and consequences of symptoms. They become thorough to the point of stubborn, detailed discourse on any things and every thing. Psychiatrists, generally, butt of joke for all, shrinks from others, remaining true to the label given to them. These characteristics are seen not only in doctors but nursing staff too.

 

Thus hospitals are not just a visiting place; they house communities which cater to the needs of the society. The better served these individuals are in the hospitals, the higher the quality of rendered care. There is a need to develop sensitivity for these issues in all stakeholders of Hospitals.