Leaving Singapore behind - medical care on board

I am afraid that it has turned out that I was unable to see anything of Singapore, except when I took some quick photos from my balcony at different times with my phone (my camera instantly steamed up it was so humid). But I did see a very colourful and energetic display of Malayan folkloric dancing on board on Friday night, complete with a Singapore ‘lion’. The name ‘Singapore’ comes from the Malay words ‘Singa’ for lion and ‘pura’ for city. Apparently a 14th century Sumatran prince alighted on the island in a thunderstorm and renamed it after spotting a beast that resembled a lion. We departed from there last night. 

The same will be true of Kuala Lumpur. My asthma is still under treatment and I get quite breathless if I walk around a lot or go outside onto my balcony. 

There are a lot reporting to the medical centre with respiratory problems. However, one poor gentlemen I met there got blood poisoning from something he was exposed to in Shanghai. Neither he nor the doctor could determine how he contracted it, but he was on his fifth day of intravenous drips and had not been able to eat since he collapsed in his cabin after leaving Shanghai. His only nutrition was being delivered intravenously as well. He had lost a lot of weight as a result, he said. He left the ship yesterday, but was able to go off independently.  Another passenger or crew member was taken off by ambulance as soon as we arrived there. That person had a medical emergency the night before. We all heard the call for the medical team to go to the cabin.

The facilities in the medical centre are geared for such emergencies - it is like a small hospital, and has two doctors and several nurses on the staff. The three nurses who have attended me are British - two English and one Irish. The doctor who saw me is European. Considering most passengers are older - including some in their nineties and quite a number in their eighties - it is great they can travel knowing they will be well cared for in every way, especially if they become ill or have a fall. Having said that, should the situation require surgery or prolonged hospital care, they have to be sent off by ambulance to a hospital when the next port is reached.

You hear jokes about going cruising rather than to a nursing home. There is a lot of sense in that for those  who do not have family or friends back at home, but who would want to be way from them like that otherwise? Mind you, I have now met a 92-year old who has spent the equivalent of several years on board, but not continuously.  She makes the best of both worlds - she uses the world voyages on the ship to meet the friends she has all over the world, and does it all in comfort without unpacking and packing all the time. She is Australian but has lived in Wales for many years, and she is as sharp as a tack! She is a widow and I gather she has no children.

We had a huge turnover of passengers in Singapore - I have heard it may have been as many as around 1500.  So many of the lovely people I have been friendly with have gone, just as happened when we arrived in Hong Kong the first time. I do hope some of us can keep in touch.  

I will post my few photos next time - they are taking too long to upload.