#TGLife
A recent news report stated that superstar Amitabh Bachchan had been hospitalised due to issues with the latter’s liver. However, many details about Big B’s hospitalisation were reportedly kept under wraps. This was done to avoid a flood of visitors, it was stated. The news of Bachhan’s ill health later turned out to be a rumour. However, it did ignite a debate.
Having a patient in the hospital also means having a number of relatives, friends and well-wishers visit the patient to inquire about their health and offer support. However, there are many occasions when the visitors unintentionally cause a lot of damage, and voices have been raised from within the medical community to regulate the practice of visiting a patient. Visitors, in the course of having a warm conversation often end up scaring the patient, say medical practitioners.
“Patients need to take a rest when they are recuperating from illness. However, many times, there is a string of visitors which keeps the patient engaged, depriving them of the much needed rest. Mothers who have just delivered babies also face issues when there are visitors, because then, they cannot get the privacy needed to feed the baby,” explains Dr lalana Bakhle, a cardiologist at Sawaikar Nursing Home, Ponda. “Additionally, many visitors often narrate their own experiences, or tales of others who have faced major illnesses, and end up creating fear in the mind of the patient. What’s more, people often suggest household remedies, and recommend that they try these along with the allopathic treatment the patient is undergoing. Visitors often do not realise that their ill-placed advice might create complications,” says Dr Bakhle.
A number of patients and their relatives also share stories along similar lines. Shraddha Naik, an IT professional from Margaonarreted one such tale. “Grandmother of a friend of mine had some serious issues with Kidney and was put on dialysis. She was one the road to recovery, but many of the visitors began speculating that being put on dialysis meant the end of the road. When the grandmother heard this, she lost the will to live and began refusing food. There is reason to believe that this could have contributed to her death which occured soon,” says Naik.
Addressing the issue of patient’s privacy on his personal blog, superstar Amitabh Bachchan also wrote: “confidential individual rights” and should not be exploited for commercial gains. “Do not break the code of professional documentation. Ailments and medical conditions are a confidential individual right. Its exploitation, and its attempted commerce are a social illegality,” Bachchan wrote.
It is also reported that many hospitals are making efforts to regulate the number of visitors a patient receives. Some hospitals in Gujarat are said to charge the visitors around Rs 50. This amount will be subtracted from the bill of the patient during the time of discharge. There are diverse opinions about whether this move will have the desired impact though, because it implies that having more visitors will get one a discount on the bill.
