Malaysians who admitted parents into hospital over the Lunar New Year holiday have defended their actions as the result of the high cost of private care or a genuine desire to help their elders with health issues, after public outcry erupted over a practice which doctors say happens every major holiday.
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Reacting to a report by This Week in Asia on children abandoning their parents at hospitals while they enjoy the Lunar New Year break, one daughter said it was “better for everyone”, while other children said the public should save the outcry for those charging punitively high sums for private care.
Wishing to only be identified as Mandy, a 38-year-old marketing officer said it was hard to control her father’s food intake throughout the Lunar New Year break, so it was better for him to be in hospital.
“If we bring him back to Penang for celebrations, he eats and drinks nonsense, and has gotten sick from it before,” Mandy told This Week in Asia.
According to her, her father suffers from kidney problems and has high blood pressure.
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“I love my father but he is stubborn,” she stressed. “It is better for him to be in hospital during the holidays instead of after”.