It has long been a popular practice to express one's best wishes to friends in hospital by sending fresh flowers, since flowers can make patients feel uplifted, a good thing in itself and also regarded as helpful to their recovery.

However, a notice recently posted at the entrance to the Shanghai Ren'ai Hospital says that visitors should refrain from this practice for the sake of patients' health. Some hospitals in Chongqing and Shannxi have also taken a similar measure.

All real flowers in the wards and corridors of Ren'ai Hospital have been replaced by artificial ones.

The banning on fresh flowers resulted from several weird occurrences in hospitals. One patient caught a cold after his operation, for no apparent reason, resulting in his stitches splitting due to his coughing. And surprisingly, the symptoms of a respiratory patient became more serious after he was hospitalized.

According to local doctors, fresh flowers were the culprits leading to these allergic reactions, due to their pollen. Furthermore, and nutritive soil placed in the bottom of the flower baskets provided an ideal medium for breeding and spreading bacteria. These bacteria were dangerous to asthmatic patients, newborn babies and patients who had undergone operations.

In addition, some kinds of flowers, for instance tulips and evening primroses, can consume a great deal of oxygen at night, with the consequence that patients suffering from cardiac diseases could have additional difficulty breathing.

Yet the hospitals' ban on fresh flowers was still being ignored by some visitors. Last week, one lady visiting her hospitalized cousin hid flowers in a paper bag to sneak them into the ward. Doctors felt conflicted on the issue. On the one hand, flowers secretly taken in by visitors could be harmful to patients, but on the other hand, they had no right to search visitors.

Considering the health of patients, doctors said that the priority was to keep flowers out of certain wards, including gynecology, respiratory diseases, dermatology and pediatrics. For other wards, flowers should have their water changed frequently and be discarded relatively quickly. Furthermore, visitors were advised not to purchase flowers sprinkled with aromatic chemicals.

(Shanghai Star November 15, 2003)