With reference to the letters T he day a public hospital took my mother away and In your final days, little doctors can do , I would like to share my experience.

My father passed away in a state of semi-consciousness at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre on Nov 25, 2007.

However, I am deeply grateful to the hospital’s Geriatric Ward for the care and compassion shown to my father throughout his admission there.

At 86 and suffering from Parkinson’s disease, he had been in and out of hospital.

One month before he passed away, he had breathing difficulties and was admitted to the hospital. My father was in the ward for a month before he left us.

Days after the admission, the doctors told us that medical intervention was not possible and yet they kept him alive with all kinds of treatments and medications.

My father was given the best of treatment and care and he was made as comfortable as possible.

We had doctors and specialists visit him regularly while the nurses at the geriatric ward cared for my father adequately.

It has been more than a year now and I can’t remember their names but the team that manages the geriatric ward at UMMC (UH) is worthy of accolades.

The point I am making is that death is a painful experience. It was hard for me to accept that my father of 86 years had died but I had to come to terms with reality.

Needless to say, during that time of distress, we should not be looking for a target to latch blame onto.

It would be irresponsible to blame government hospitals indiscriminately without the proper facts.