Another medical experience
Soon after my trip to Beijing in mid November I came down with a respiratory infection. It was enough to slow me down and cause a problem but not to be a worry as I didn’t have a fever. I tried all of my remedies from home with minimal benefit. After almost a week and looking at needing to take more time off work I asked one of the students to take me to a doctor.
We went to the college clinic which was a bit of an experience. The doctor sat at a bare desk in a fairly bare large room which had another such desk at the other end. The room included a bare metal examination bed. The student described the history and symptoms and my chest was checked. While we were waiting for the thermometer to cook 2 students entered and were attended to by the same doctor in record time.
The doctor decided I was not sick enough for a drip, which is what the students always seem to have, but then they often talk of having a fever. I was offered an injection which included an antibiotic and an antiviral. At that stage I was so sick of being unwell I would have agreed to almost anything and I thought it was a one off.
We went to the cashier, produced the prescription and paid. The next door window was the dispensary where 2 syringes and multiple vials were dispensed. I also got a small bottle of tiny black pills and I was to take 50 three times a day. It was then time to head for the treatment room where a nurse in fluffy slippers injected me and retained the medications for later that night. By that time I did feel better and knew that I’d make it to class the following day.
The little black pills
As instructed, I returned the following morning for a review. I was not considered well enough so it was all repeated. The nurse was not going to be on duty that evening so I got to take my vials and syringe home. I returned for review the following morning to see a different doctor as the original one, a kindly elderly man was off duty. Although improved I was still far from well and the next one wanted to do a blood test and after some discussion I agreed, paid and was conducted to another room used as a lab. Blood analysis was done from a finger prick with immediate results and as expected was abnormal. The doctor then suggested a drip. After some discussion and consultation with his superior he then recommended referral to a local hospital. By this time an audience had collected waiting for their turn to see the doctor. Being as curious as I was unwell I agreed to the referral and the long suffering student required for interpreting duty called a necessary person to make arrangements. Fortunately the student had finished classes and had already passed the upcoming national English exam which most others are studying for. She is preparing for a university entrance exam next year and hasn’t yet found her impetus to study so I didn’t feel too bad about taking her time. Plus having to talk with me would improve her English.
Syringe and vials
The college clinic’s cashier’s window on the left and the dispensary on the right
Lab at the clinic
That afternoon a car with driver, a teacher and the student conducted me to a local hospital where I registered for attention. The counter had a couple of eye glasses tied to it. I have seen them in a bank too. Some people don’t have reading glasses.
Glasses attached to registration/cashier desk at the hospital
We went upstairs where we entered room containing 2 desks back to back and multiple people one of whom was a doctor. She checked my chest and temperature. She prescribed several tests and we went and paid. I then had an odd sort of X ray which as I had expected was clear. The blood test was still abnormal and was repeated for greater analysis. It too was done from a finger prick. In Australia it is done from blood drawn from a vein.
Lab at the hospital
We returned to the doctor who offered a drip or tablets. Given that it never seems to be one but multiple drips I declined. Everything had progressed very smoothly and without any waiting but I had no desire to repeat it. I paid for the prescription and we went to the dispensary. Initially two bottles of cough medicine and a box of nose drops were produced. I didn’t believe I needed either and declined them. The whole prescription had to be filled or nothing. The student then had to return to the doctor who rewrote the prescription. It was then back to the cashier where I had my original money refunded. I paid extra for the new prescription as additional packets of tablets had been added. The medications were very expensive, around A$70. Up until then the cost including tests and medications at the college clinic had been minor.
The teacher told me that the doctor was a good one because she had prescribed expensive medication. I’ve read that doctors get kickbacks from prescriptions. I’ll never know the real answer. I have heard that many people cannot afford medical care. The teacher said that insurance is available. Not everyone can afford it. My Chinese insurance which is provided by the college has an extremely high excess as does my Australian insurance so I cannot claim. About a month ago I was out with a student when an elderly couple begged for money for medical costs for a family member. An elderly man was begging in the train queue on Sunday. He had metal bars extending from one arm. On Thursday an ex-student told me of one of the first year students who had had to give up college to take care of her father, a farmer, who had become ill and to use money saved for college for his medical care.
I’ve been taking my tablets and by Saturday I felt that all I had was a minor cold. The Chinese mantra is to drink more hot water. It is the cure-all for everything. I don’t know how many million times I’ve been given that advice, especially since I became unwell. I don’t take hot water to class as I’ve dropped and broken two hot water/tea containers and choose not to buy a replacement. I’m known to take a bottle of room temperature water when I leave my flat. That is not considered suitable. It should be hot. I’d bet from the Chinese perspective that I’m considered not to be helping myself recover by drinking unapproved water.
