Sick – Part 3

Well, I am still sick. Still have a hacking cough, headache and have cough so much and so hard, I have actually pulled muscles in my abdomen. To add insult to injury, I am still unable to sleep for a period longer than 20 minutes at a time. This, I guess, is the irony of having whatever it is I have. You need rest to get better, but the disease creates symptoms to prevent you from sleeping. Hum?

This other epiphany that I have had since being sick is that Indian doctors are no better than the beggars on the streets. As you know, I went to the clinic last week and was prescribed a ton of medicine after going through a blood test and throat culture. Of course, the prescriptions were given long before the test results come back. At the beginning of this week, my secretary called the doctor back to tell him that his prescribed treatment was having no impact and the test results were all negative or neutral. The doctor was adamant that I would have to come back into the clinic to be re-evaluated. Now, there has been absolutely no change in the symptoms from when he examined me the first time, so why could he not simply change the prescriptions, up the dosage or send me to a specialist? Well, I will tell you why?

In order to see the doctor, I would have to check into the clinic again. This would cost me 600 Rs or roughly $13. Then, the doctor will run another battery of irrelevant test at $40 a pop. Once those are done, and not waiting for the results, he will then prescribe another bucketful of medication that may or may not impact the hacking cough. In the end, I will be out a couple of hundred dollars and will have in no way altered the natural course of the virus.

My other option is not to go back to the doctor, feel exactly the same way for the same amount of time and save the money, the time and the frustration. I guess in the end, you get exactly what you pay for!