There are ways, and there are ways.

Patients at Mater Dei Hospital get top treatment. The doctors, nurses and paramedical staff offer the best service possible. No stone is left unturned, and no cost is spared to give patients what they need.

But there are things that should function better than they do. We are referring mostly to the attitude of staff in the lower grades. While doctors and nurses are always prepared with a word of encouragement and support to both the patients and their families, some others are not so delicate in their approach.

To tell a patient with diabetes, who has had part of his foot amputated, that “it would be better for you to have your whole leg chopped off, rather than having it done bit by bit”, is certainly not the correct way of being supportive.

Seeing patients recovering from amputations day in day out may have led these personnel to become immune to the individual health issues, but it does not justify such harsh words. They should be more sensitive to the plight of the patients and their families.

Neither is it nice to hear security guards shouting at relatives of patients to leave the wards when the visiting hours are over; a polite “time is up, please”, is certainly better than “get out of here.”

Some visitors, it must be admitted, try to abuse the system. They try their utmost to win those extra few minutes, both before and after visiting hours. But security guards should be taught some level of decency in their approach.

If they want to be strict, they can be strict in a nice way. If they are following orders, and are doing their job in seeing that no visitors are in the wards outside visiting hours, they can do it with courtesy. Shouting at people because they have not realised that it is one minute past 8pm is not on.

A hospital stay is never welcome, and is quite a stressful time, for both patients and their families. It would be helpful if they are shown more respect.