Recently, we have had headline news in the papers about getting healthcare personnel to wash their hands.

I was visiting a friend who was admitted to the Sungai Buloh Hospital with Aids and tuberculosis, which by the way, is the normal course of events. My friend was in hospital because he had an acute oral infection and needed to be hospitalised.

His lips were ulcerated and scabbed and not much had been done about it. While I was there, we were trying to give him a drink and the result was that he started to bleed profusely from his oral ulcers.

He was using a non disposable cup which was now covered in blood. He wiped it with a tissue and threw the tissue into a waste paper basket that did not have toxic waste disposal protocol. Please remember that he is HIV+ with Aids complex and TB.

The ward does not have infectious disease/high risk protocol. The only precaution was the use of a surgical mask.

The next day my friend was transferred to the National Leprosy Control Centre where he was amongst other HIV+ with Aids complex with TB patients. This is an open ward with not a single healthcare giver in charge or in view anywhere.

These are again high-risk patients who are a danger to themselves as well as to others and they are at risk of being abused by unscrupulous individuals.

The poor patients may be HIV+ but they deserve to be treated as every other human being with dignity and respect. They are left on their own to fend for themselves with no help from anyone and the majority of them are so marasmic (a wasting of flesh) that they need help just to go to the toilet.

A most miserable looking kettle had been left there for their use, but there are no cups or any form of containers for them to drink from. They do not have caregivers of their own and where are they supposed to get some assistance if they need it? Again there was a total lack of infection control protocol for high-risk diseases and patients.

And Health Ministry secretary-general Dr Ismail Merican is worried about doctors washing hands? I wish I had taken photographs to show the world how developed we are.