Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Trip to the Doctor

Doctor's offices overseas are always "interesting"! We took our youngest children in for a rash and came out 3 hours later. Now, I am not complaining because the staff were so nice and the hospital was clean. A sweeper guy actually walked through every 10 minutes, sweeping the floor.

Ok, let me start at the beginning...When we arrived here in June, just 2 months ago, my son started getting bumps on his arm. We went to the pharmacy to get some ointment and the Pharmacist said that he has eczema as a result of the heat and humidity here. We went through 2 different creams and oral allergy medicine. But a few weeks ago, the bumps started getting larger and raised. So, we went to our appointment, which was at 10pm at night!

We went to the 2nd floor of the hospital, to Pediatrics. Then they told us to go back to the ground floor to fill out paperwork, then recieved a credit card like thing (which they told us to bring every time we come). We did that then took the paperwork back to the 2nd floor and paid for the services (300 SR). This place was b-u-s-y and we waited for 1 1/2 hours. Near the waiting room was a Krispy Kreme, so we got the kids donuts to eat while we waited.

My son's name was called and we entered the exam room. The room had a typical table, covered in the white paper for him to lay on. It was also the doctor's office. He was sitting at his desk on the left and instructed my son to sit on the table thing. He got up and looked at the bumps on his arm and said that it was not eczema and that we needed to go to Dermatology. So he wrote down the name of the referral and we headed back to the 2nd floor receptionist. She refunded our money and sent us to the 5th floor-dermatology. I was absolutely amazed that since he could not help us-our money was refunded! This would n-e-v-e-r happen in America! The doctor's just keep taking your money!

We saw the Dermatologist after about 20 minutes. We entered her exam room/office and she diagnosed the bumps as a virus and said that they would have to be removed. We decided to get the procedure done because she explained that if the bumps were not removed, they would continue to spread. So, we were sent to back to the receptionist and we paid 750 SR. We waited some more then went to a different exam room. This one did not have anyone's desk in it! So she injected each bump then removed the bumps by burning them off with a laser tool. Our poor boy screamed and cried the whole time, but it was over in 5 minutes. She instructed the nurse on how to rub the cream and wrap the gauze over his arm.

After this procedure, our injured little boy enjoyed the attention of having an "arm wrap."

*Update* After one week, we went back to the dermatologist for a follow up visit. When we went to pay, we were told that there was no charge, since it was a follow up visit! WOW! Again, this would not happen in the US! His arm had healed and she recommended bringing him back if any of the bumps ever came back. She mentioned that there would be no charge! Again-I am impressed! It has been over 3 weeks and his arm is now perfect!

1 comment:

  1. What was the name of the hospital? Have you ever been to the International Hospital? How was it?

    ReplyDelete