Hospitals add colour to treatment

The Mahesh Memorial Trust Paediatric Ward at the Cancer Institute, Adyar has featured wall paintings and supportive architecture for ten years now. According to Sowmya, administrator of the Mahesh Memorial Trust, this move was introduced to give children and parents a comfortable space to be in during treatments.

“We have wall paintings in waiting rooms. This helps the children before treatment and makes them more open to the doctors. Parents too are comforted by the colour and the openness of the architecture. This is what we were aiming for, as treatment can be very rigorous and tiring,” she said.

Aside from relieving anxiety, this comforting décor also aids doctors in diagnosis, said Dr Bhuvaneshwari Rajendran, consultant neurologist and neurophysiologist. With Kauvery Hospitals featuring 60 paintings by local artists, patients are more relaxed before approaching the doctor and are thus more open about medical problems, she said.

“I have noticed that we also get many geriatric patients. These are senior citizens who often live alone and come to the hospital by themselves. For them, there is a lot of anxiety surrounding a doctor’s visit. The paintings make them feel more at ease,” she said.

According to Dr Rakesh Jalali, radiation oncologist at Apolo Hospitals, the bright, vibrant environment at the Apollo Proton Cancer Centre motivates patients to come back for their daily dose of treatment. “We also play a short animated movie that I made on the treatment that will follow. This makes the children more receptive towards treatment,” he said.