Healthcare is different here.
My friend has been struggling with a few health issues since I arrived. I believe we should have gone to the hospital when I arrived, but she is a stubborn ox of a woman and I am not persuasive enough to change her.
But today, we are here. We returned from the elephant experience, put her in a car and went to the hospital.
We entered the front door of the hospital, not the emergency room. We were greeted at the door and ushered to the new patient desk. MJ filled out some paperwork and we were given a ticket and told to sit in a waiting area. Soon a nurse came out and retrieved us, took her vitals and sat us in another waiting area. Another nurse approached and apologized that the neurologist was on his dinner break so there would be a brief wait. Less than 30 minutes.
I suppose they expected us to act insulted, but we both exchanged astonished looks. In the states, first we would be sitting there with no explanation, likely for more than an hour and in all reality we would probably be sitting in a cue to be checked in outside the Emergency room. I think we can wait 30 minutes for the doc to have dinner. It was 6 in the evening, after all.
She saw a neurologist. He found nothing, but would give her some pills.
Honestly, at this point, I think multiple things are going on, but even I was put off at the elementary exam he did and how dismissive he was. But, he did agree because she had a cough and she had been traveling in foreign lands, she should see the ENT, and he would order blood work.
Okay, so off to the lab we went.
We have never been left alone since we got here. We have been escorted everywhere, which is nice since neither of us have been here before. They drew blood and we were escorted to the waiting area for ENT. She saw an ENT.
Mind you, we have been at the hospital for less than 2 hours. She has seen 2 specialist without having a prior appointment; had blood drawn; and the ENT sent her for a chest xray before we were parked back in the waiting room for results.
Results came, an apologetic person said there were no chest docs in the hospital right now, but they had arranged for an appointment at 10:30 tomorrow morning. She paid the bill, collected her meds, and we were back at the hotel in 3 ½ hours. It cost less than $250 US.
Okay, yes, the neurologist was dismissive and did not listen or diagnose as well as I would have expected, but the others were on top of their game in my opinion. In the states, we might have a bed in the hallway in the ER at the 3 hour mark, and her bill would have been… a lot more. I am stunned at the efficiency. At the number of people working at this hospital – the expensive one in town. I think we could send a lot of hospital efficiency people over here to study the phenomenon.
Day 2 of the hospital experience took us to the last specialist, and honestly I am not sure what he was other than ‘chest.’ I think he was pulmonary not cardiac, but I was in the background. More pills, followup appointment, pay, checkout. 1 hour.
Now we wait and see if it works.
Having an illness of any kind when travelling can be scary. Especially if traveling alone and having no one to support you through the process. Throw in language issues and trying to express what is wrong to someone raise the blood pressure to say the least.
I grew up around hospitals as both parents worked in them. I am no stranger to the ins and outs of healthcare even though I am not formally involved. So, yes, I do take an interest in hospitals and how they are run.
It was interesting to see one in a different country, even though the reason for being there was not ideal. Again, MJ has provided me with an experience I probably never would have had in Thailand. Know that was not her intention, but I enjoyed the visit.
She almost decked me when I saw a cemetery on the map and said I wanted to visit it to compare death rites to those I know in the US.
Yes, in retrospect, from her perspective, I suppose that was in poor taste.
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