Today, not so much about the H1N1 battle but some ranting about hospital etiquette.
My sister reminded me that our dad used to have a separate pair of shoes for hospital check-ups or stays. Now, that is making a lot of sense to us.
People have very short memories. Wasn't it not so many years ago that they didn't want buses to pick up TTSH staff because of fear of infection? Nowadays, I think people no longer fear getting or spreading infections. Just look at the number of people hanging/walking around the hospital and their behaviour.
Many hospitals have common thoroughfares for all and sundry. Like, if you are just going for your eye check-up, you could be walking at the passageway alongside someone who has being going in and out of the ICU (as a visitor). Worse, you could be getting coughed at by that ICU visitor, or you are coughing at him/her. Yet, hardly anyone is using a mask and people in and outside the hospital are coughing and sneezing at, well, all and sundry. (But let's hope that the ICU visitor at least used the mask while in the ICU and washed his/her hands.)
Then, many people in the hospital are there with at least 2 other people. Some are there with, like, a very, very big family group. I cannot say anything about people's preferences but I sure hope that they are all aware that everyone who walks into (or even near) the hospital is open to being infected by something and everyone who walks into (or even near) the hospital is capable of bringing infection in.
Next, there are often groups (meaning 2 or more people together) who are sauntering along passageways like they own them and very, very big family groups walking abreast along corridors at a very, very slow pace. And I'm not talking about elderly, injured or disabled people. Worse, there are some who stop right in the middle of human traffic to engage in extended conversation. People, we need to, like, move faster, so we have less contact with each other and get to where we need to go fast.
Last (for now), I think this happened every day I've been there this past week. Queue-cutting at the taxi stand! Tsk, tsk, how can this happen in Singapore, especially when the taxi stand is quite clearly demarcated. Claps all round for those taxi drivers who made would-be queue-cutters join the queue.
Oh yes, perhaps a word needs to be said about the hospital itself. Do they really need to remind people every 2 days about how high their bill is? Can they just let people focus on getting better?
On the H1N1 front, actually, maybe I should re-name this title because H1N1 is not our biggest problem. Biggest problems are bacteria + asthma. Very likely, H1N1 was downed fairly early and now, the kid is still trying to down the bacteria that went into his system.
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