Reception also plays vital role
As is a saying in Kashmiri, Haspataal Wanaw Nish Najaat (May God prevent us from hospitals). The fear and anxiety of a hospital is real, given the environment a hospital’s landscape carries. Whether you want to go to the hospital or not, you have no option left in case you direly need it and then comes the haspataal waan.
The intrusive thoughts always reach a mind much earlier before you land in the premises. Fear psychosis, haunting of hospital equipment, gazing at instruments, sirens of ambulances, beeping of high end machines, rushing of hospital staff feels like an all round chaos.
It is not the same, one experience in a hospitality protocol. You are welcome. How can I help you? Do you need anything more? No dessert, a sweet course that follows a meal. No tip for being happy with the gesture of how you were made to enjoy. But the only thing that haunts me is bitter medicine, pricks, cuts and abrasions. One doesn’t enjoy it irrespective of the way he received treatment, but surely feels after getting well, back home.
One should not evade the expectation of a warm welcome in a public health institution that instantly raises fear and anxiety. One doesn’t only require medicine for sickness but elixir to the fear psychosis, empathy to the haplessness, professional approach for being insane in the field. As does the medical ethics.
Decade before, an administrator of a public health institution in Srinagar introduced a music system to console patients through audio that kept on playing in the back of the wards. Whether that continues or not is a matter of deliberation for health experts, but ideas also matter. Signages that didn’t exist were also placed across the same institution, which earlier created chaos and confusion amongst the attendants of the patients in reaching the respective areas for one or the other purpose.
It is heard that in the backyard of a public healthcare in Srinagar existed a small pool of water with wooden shikaras, conceptualized for a ride of mobilizing patients, ensuring a soothing effect on their mental health. So do the green lawns. Affect a patient’s well being. Landscape and façade also play pivotal roles. Family members who play as attendants also need convenient and easy to understand access to remain present during critical moments.
Most public health facilities in the region lack a qualified receptionist, to greet patients, handle enquiries, guide attendants to the correct areas and departments, with some front offices being managed by security guards. A hospital Receptionist is an integral part of healthcare, which often goes overlooked and neglected while hiring and posting of medical and other staff.
The author is GK HW columnist, hails from Khrew
