Ward 47

Yesterday we visited Mama's uncle Penny Muda at the General Hospital. As we walked past the various male wards, we finally spotted his family and came to the bed where he sat. He was at the top right bed in Ward 47. Most of his family members had come to visit him during the regulated visiting hours and he appeared to be in high spirits. It was fun for him. Mama's other aunt and uncle came too and everyone joked and spoke to him. I chose to watch the other patients around me and I sort of regretted it almost immediately.

Several patients around us stared at our company and it was then that I realized that some of them were alone during visiting hours. No one had come to visit them. I caught them looking wistfully at where we stood.

There was the lonely man opposite from Penny Muda's bed. He was sitting right up in his bed and was observing everyone and everything around him. Another man languished on bed next to where we were standing. The entire right side of his face was swollen. He stared at the ceiling listlessly and shifted from side to side on bed. I saw the young man on the bed situated in the far bottom left of the room. Earlier, I saw him limping from the washroom and was assisted onto bed by his wife or girlfriend, I couldn't exactly tell. He seemed happy. He was young, sorta attractive and he probably had the best visitor see him. Smiling and holding hands with the girl next to him, he too lay on bed and didn't allow anything to distract him.

It was sweet watching that couple. The girl stroked his face and he truly appreciated her company. It's like they failed to let anyone else into their comfortable world. After watching them, I saw the other elderly man on a bed who had appeared to befriend another patient, most probably his own age. Again, I felt sorry for them because they had no one. No relative or friend to visit them during visiting hours. No one to come and provide them with a meal packed from home. Or help them put on their shirt buttons. Whilst walking away from the ward when visiting hours were over, I saw another elderly person who was talking to himself.

I left the hospital feeling dejected. What happened to those people? Who admitted them to the hospital in the first place? Did they get themselves admitted alone? Didn't a relative or a friend understand that the hospital can get pretty morbid and depressing most of the time? Didn't anyone care about their situation?

Why can't people be a bit more caring? I know this sounds super cliche but certain things do make an impact in this world and in peoples' lives. We may not think it does but it truly does make a huge difference.

Dedicated to all the people who haven't had a visitor at their hospital beds today.