Scan barcode
A review by fearandtrembling
GILA: A Journey Through Moods & Madness by Hanna Alkaf
4.0
"Similarly, Hanna’s exploration of asylums in forensic wards for mental illness in places like Hospital Bahagia in Tanjung Rambutan, Perak, shows that even modern medical treatments are tainted by a legacy of abuse and outright brutality and violence.
These closing chapters address the issue of the institutionalisation of the criminal and the homeless, which is probably vast enough an area to be addressed in a separate book devoted just to this particular topic.
It is shocking and heart-rending, as when we learn that cheap labour is obtained from patients in forensic wards, who are paid RM1 a day to raise crops on land or RM3 a day to work in the hospital canteen.
One of the first female directors at Hospital Bahagia since its inception in 1911, Dr Ruby (in full, Dr Hajjah Rabai’ah Mohd Salleh) highlights these solutions as a sign of how the hospital helps its patients reintegrate into society, but one wonders if reintegration is primarily based on the premise of who is able to earn a living."
An excerpt of my review of GILA in The Star.
These closing chapters address the issue of the institutionalisation of the criminal and the homeless, which is probably vast enough an area to be addressed in a separate book devoted just to this particular topic.
It is shocking and heart-rending, as when we learn that cheap labour is obtained from patients in forensic wards, who are paid RM1 a day to raise crops on land or RM3 a day to work in the hospital canteen.
One of the first female directors at Hospital Bahagia since its inception in 1911, Dr Ruby (in full, Dr Hajjah Rabai’ah Mohd Salleh) highlights these solutions as a sign of how the hospital helps its patients reintegrate into society, but one wonders if reintegration is primarily based on the premise of who is able to earn a living."
An excerpt of my review of GILA in The Star.