It’s always a lovely gesture to bring someone who’s warded in the hospital a thoughtful gift. For Malaysians, that usually means home-cooked food, fruits or fresh flowers. Hence, you might be surprised to hear that fresh flowers are actually a no-no if you’re visiting a cancer patient.
The National Cancer Institute issued a statement on its Facebook page yesterday at 4.41pm banning fresh flowers from its wards, for the sake of preventing infections. It explained that patients undergoing chemotherapy tend to have weakened immunity systems. In another Facebook post supporting the ban, the Kedah Health Department expressed that flowers could be a breeding ground for fungi and bacteria.
Source: Facebook
As such, putting cancer patients in contact with them could set off infectious diseases that otherwise healthy individuals would be safe from. The post also highlighted that such a practice is already been implemented in the United Kingdom, where 9 out of 10 hospitals have prevented visitors from bringing fresh flowers to their wards.
The pollen from flowers, especially lilies, can actually trigger allergies in certain patients, and go as far as to cause an asthma attack. Cancer patients are having a tough time as it is, so that’d be the last thing they need!
Source: Good Housekeeping
To round off the post, Kedah Health Department implored the public to understand the policies of hospitals and wards, and to always heed their instructions as well as put the safety of the patients and hospital surroundings first. Among its list of references, it cited a 2016 article by the American Advisory Board, which also cautioned against bringing balloons, for fear of triggering patients who are allergic to latex.
Guess we’ll stick to good ol’ herbal soup and fresh fruits! Comment below: will this make you reconsider bringing fresh flowers to visit hospitalised friends and families in the future, and will you practise this even at other hospitals? Let us know!
Also read: Frequently Eating Bread Only for Breakfast Increases Risk of Breast Cancer, Nutritionist Says
