Ah-doa has heard some real horror stories about the health system in Asia; ones filled with maniacal doctors, uncaring clinics and incompetent staffers. On his most recent interaction however, he has been left with a sense of practical satisfaction and content.
I’ve been suffering the ill-effects of food-poisoning and diarrhea for a few days now. Something I thought would clear up (it usually does in just a few hours) has lasted a little longer than expected. Correspondingly I paid my first visit to the free clinic provided by my employer.
Now I may have got special ‘foreign teacher’ treatment (not sure if the students get seen so quickly), but I was in and out (with appropriate medication) in 13 minutes and the whole thing was free. Despite the fact that the doctor was clearly more interested in the WoW game he was playing on his laptop (than dealing with a trivial patient) he still asked me all the right questions and a correct diagnosis.
Following this, perhaps the best part, he over-prescribed prescribed about four different medicines to treat my problem. Usually this is the point in Oz where I start to get pissed off, thinking how its gonna cost me a fortune to pay for a handful of prescriptions instead of just one, only to find out the medicine is chucked in for free! The clinic has a stock set of generic medicine (antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, etc) that it dispenses for free to students and staff alike. Nobody abuses this system (each visit is documented) and portions cover just a few days.
Once yuor medicines are prescribed, a nurse puts them in a ‘whizz-bang’ machines where they get sorted and automatically dispensed into plastic pouches. One pouch thus represents one dose, saving you from rifling through a range of instructions after you’ve left the clinic.
Now its not a really touchy feely medical environment (as Dad would term it), however it gets the job done and services the University’s community. It’s only really meant to handle basic concerns (I wouldn’t want to go there for something serious), but I think clinics such as this (which would no doubt be abused in OZ), are a practical and sensible approach to minor-case medical issues.
