Medicine: No Visitors

No Visitors In a well-run “people’s democracy,” friends and relations should not visit hospital patients. Dr. Ota Dub, head of Prague’s Municipal Hospital, last week told why.

“During the capitalistic era the food in hospitals was no good,” said Dr. Dub (rhymes with stoop). “The nurses were employees and not comrades of the patient. The patient was shut off from the outside world—his world—and was anxious to hear some news from his relatives [and have them bring goodies from home]. But not today. The food is excellent, and when there are any complaints, the patient can protest in written form . . . The nurses are providing the home atmosphere for the patient by reading the newspapers for him and by providing the same political discussions that he would get at his work in the factory.”

Moreover, mourned Dub, “how many working hours are lost every day through unnecessary hospital visits, and how many Sunday voluntary working brigades could be made if the relatives abstained from their old custom? How many tons of the best food are wasted during these visits, when patients refuse to eat the packages from home because they are satisfied with what they are getting at the hospital?”