Hair-raising health
November 1st 2008 08:55
If you ever go to South America, it’s essential to have travel insurance.
One of my bosses, who worked in Peru and Ecuador for some 25 years as a missionary, was telling me some hair-raising stories about health care over there. The conversation had begun because a cousin of mine had told me he and his family are moving to Canada in due course, as New Zealand is becoming a ‘third world country.’ My boss scoffed at the idea – and that’s when the stories about health and hospitals and doctors in South America began.
Quite apart from the fact that paying heavily for any health care is a requirement there, and usually up front, (even if you’re dying), the lack of compassion on the part of most doctors and nurses is another fact of life. Okay, you may find the odd nurse or doctor here in NZ who doesn’t give a stuff about you, but in general they at least act as if they’re compassionate.
My boss told me how a young man had been slashed several times with a knife outside her house. The other neighbours, for the most part, merely stood around in a circle watching him bleed, but she called an ambulance (which never came) and then was helped by another neighbour (one whom she least expected to help) to take the young man to hospital. They couldn’t go to the nearest hospital because that was basically for well-to-do, so they had to drive to the other side of town to an affordable place. When they got there, they had to find a stretcher themselves, and eventually the young man was placed (not by them) on a stainless steel bench, where he continued to bleed profusely.
The doctor didn’t arrive until about an hour after they’d got to the hospital and even then wouldn’t treat him until money changed hands, so my boss had to pay out of her own purse. There was no nurse attending to the boy’s wounds in the meantime. Unsurprisingly, my boss learned the next day that the boy had died.
She learned, while in Peru, to pretty much treat herself. It may not be the standard of health care we’re used to in this ‘third world country’ but she survived.
One of my bosses, who worked in Peru and Ecuador for some 25 years as a missionary, was telling me some hair-raising stories about health care over there. The conversation had begun because a cousin of mine had told me he and his family are moving to Canada in due course, as New Zealand is becoming a ‘third world country.’ My boss scoffed at the idea – and that’s when the stories about health and hospitals and doctors in South America began.
Quite apart from the fact that paying heavily for any health care is a requirement there, and usually up front, (even if you’re dying), the lack of compassion on the part of most doctors and nurses is another fact of life. Okay, you may find the odd nurse or doctor here in NZ who doesn’t give a stuff about you, but in general they at least act as if they’re compassionate.
My boss told me how a young man had been slashed several times with a knife outside her house. The other neighbours, for the most part, merely stood around in a circle watching him bleed, but she called an ambulance (which never came) and then was helped by another neighbour (one whom she least expected to help) to take the young man to hospital. They couldn’t go to the nearest hospital because that was basically for well-to-do, so they had to drive to the other side of town to an affordable place. When they got there, they had to find a stretcher themselves, and eventually the young man was placed (not by them) on a stainless steel bench, where he continued to bleed profusely.
The doctor didn’t arrive until about an hour after they’d got to the hospital and even then wouldn’t treat him until money changed hands, so my boss had to pay out of her own purse. There was no nurse attending to the boy’s wounds in the meantime. Unsurprisingly, my boss learned the next day that the boy had died.
She learned, while in Peru, to pretty much treat herself. It may not be the standard of health care we’re used to in this ‘third world country’ but she survived.
| 45 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
