I had my first personal encounter with a doctor yesterday. I have had an ear ache for about a month now. I can't find ear candles here, so I tried coconut oil and a little water, but it didn't help. So I decided I had better go to see a Ear, Nose, Throat quack. Amal gave a name of a guy that works out of one of the private hospitals.
I had seen signs for channelling centres. I thought that it was odd that there were so many places offering either energy channelling or communion with the dead. It turns out that these are places where medical specialists see patients. Mind you, the way some doctors operate, it may as well be communion with the dead. There is one at the hospital where this guy works.
Every time I drove by one of these places it was like a zoo. Hundreds of people milling around. Plus I had heard from Amal that they are miserable. You have to get a number, as they do not take appointments. You have to show up early in the morning if you want to get a low number, etc., etc.
I decided that this was B.S. I called the hospital like any normal human being would. They confirmed that they do not take appointments but that they do give numbers over the phone. They said I had to call back after 0600 the next morning. Needless to say, I became indignant and asked why I couldn't get a number when I was on the phone with them right then. The woman gave a little laugh and promptly took my name and gave me number 1. Obviously, you can do it this way, but no-one in this country protests when people treat them like fools.
I showed up a half hour before the doctor was due in. They gave me his room number which I promptly occupied as I had the first number. I spent a pleasant 50 minutes waiting in there away from the madding crowd that was amassing outside. Of course, the doctor was 20 minutes late. Have you ever know one that is on time? They are only one notch up the food chain from pond scum after all. He had a look at me, told me what was wrong, which I suspected already, gave me a prescription to soften up the ear wax and will vacuum out the offending particle tomorrow. All this, including the prescription cost me about $10.
The time spent in his room was interesting. There was a ledge below the window that was littered with used needles. Thank god he showed up with his own speculum. No telling how clean that was either but at least it wasn't sitting in that filthy room.
All in all, not too bad an experience. I am learning that you only have to demand what you want and most of the time you can get it.
