S
Sun Quan
Guest
Friday January 21, 2011
Hospital patients cry foul over loss of valuables when asleep in wards
By LOH FOON FONG and SHAUN HO
[email protected]
PETALING JAYA: Thefts are not just occurring in the streets but also in hospital wards, giving rise to an urgent need to protect the sick and the infirm from thieves.
Security guard William Francis, 48, who was admitted to a private hospital for a diabetic ulcer wound, said he was given some medication which caused him to be drowsy and fall asleep.
“When I woke up, I overheard a patient complaining to a nurse that he had lost RM400. I then looked at my side table and noticed my mobile phone had also gone missing,” he said. He reported to the hospital management and was later told that the security department could not trace the culprit from the CCTV.
In another case, a writer, who declined to be named, said her Blackberry was stolen sometime in the middle of last year when she was warded for dengue fever at a high dependency unit in a private hospital.
“On the fourth night, my doctor gave me a sleeping pill and I fell asleep at about 9pm. “When I woke up the following morning, the mobile phone on the side table was gone.
“I feel so violated,” she said, adding she had put complete trust in the hospital in her moment of helplessness. She said no visitors were allowed to enter the unit except for family members, who were also barred from entering after 8pm.
The hospital’s nursing administrator, who declined to be named, said patients were always advised to leave their valuables with relatives or in the safety box in their rooms. “In a high dependency unit, they could leave them with the nurses,” she said.
Kuala Lumpur Hospital director Datuk Dr Zaininah Zain said the hospital occasionally received complaints from patients over lost belongings but it did not record the cases. “It is the hospital’s policy to advise patients to leave their valuables at home or with relatives,” she said.
The hospital had 2,000 patients at any one time and it was difficult for its staff to keep things for them except for items of patients who died or were involved in accidents. These items would later be handed over to their family members, Dr Zaininah said.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said hospital visiting hours had been relaxed to make it more family-friendly but the ministry might consider revising the visiting hours to prevent thefts in hospital wards.
“We want to allow families more time to see their loved ones in hospitals. “But if this causes problems for patients, we should change it,” Liow said when asked to comment on the issue.
