I find it extremely interesting to look at the value of health and hygiene in different countries, to see how they work the system to provide the much needed premiums, deductibles, religion, and drugs.
In Canada, where they have universal healthcare, Canadian doctors actually come to the US because they can make more money here.
In France, they also have universal healthcare, but if you make a mistake you (the doctor) are fired.
In the United States, where our health care is somewhat fucked at the moment, if you (the doctor) make a mistake then you just pay a higher malpractice suit. Which in turn raises the price of everyone's premium and everything else you can think of.
In Latin America, you have the best perhaps of all of this, you have thousands of doctors coming into your country and essentially giving you hand-outs.
Drugs = Free!
These doctors pity the "hispanic" (yes, I just used that word, let's make this hold even more power) and they jump at the chance to help out. In Latin America, let us say Honduras, (to not over-generalize), you have medical brigades. Medical brigades if you are unfamiliar with the idea are groups of mainly US religious groups that come to various countries in LA to 'rid these poor people of their pain' (medically of course). During my ten weeks in Honduras, where I would supervise in four different communities, I had the luck to witness some three medical brigades-all of which took place in the very same community (meaning the other three didn't get any free drugs).
For the lucky people of the community that do partake in the event, you not only get a dependence on drugs, but you also get religion thrown in your face-all of which presented in absolutely horrible Spanish. The children get some unsustainable toys, like balloons which pop by the end of the day and some lollipops (yeah to cavities)! And most importantly, the children don't have school as the brigade needs the space of the entire school..
How it works is: after seeing a nurse who takes their vitals and jots down their symptoms, the person passes through to a room where a ‘doctor’ (a church organizer) is seated, they reviews their sheet, have a (very) brief dialogue about those symptoms, and then either prescribes medicine or sends them on to see another doctor (for real this time, not a church organizer).
*This is only a hidden plus, as Honduras is notoriously known for teacher strikes and no school.
Take-aways:
In Canada, where they have universal healthcare, Canadian doctors actually come to the US because they can make more money here.
 |
| Can you find the medical brigaders? |
In France, they also have universal healthcare, but if you make a mistake you (the doctor) are fired.
In the United States, where our health care is somewhat fucked at the moment, if you (the doctor) make a mistake then you just pay a higher malpractice suit. Which in turn raises the price of everyone's premium and everything else you can think of.
In Latin America, you have the best perhaps of all of this, you have thousands of doctors coming into your country and essentially giving you hand-outs.
Drugs = Free!
These doctors pity the "hispanic" (yes, I just used that word, let's make this hold even more power) and they jump at the chance to help out. In Latin America, let us say Honduras, (to not over-generalize), you have medical brigades. Medical brigades if you are unfamiliar with the idea are groups of mainly US religious groups that come to various countries in LA to 'rid these poor people of their pain' (medically of course). During my ten weeks in Honduras, where I would supervise in four different communities, I had the luck to witness some three medical brigades-all of which took place in the very same community (meaning the other three didn't get any free drugs).
For the lucky people of the community that do partake in the event, you not only get a dependence on drugs, but you also get religion thrown in your face-all of which presented in absolutely horrible Spanish. The children get some unsustainable toys, like balloons which pop by the end of the day and some lollipops (yeah to cavities)! And most importantly, the children don't have school as the brigade needs the space of the entire school..
How it works is: after seeing a nurse who takes their vitals and jots down their symptoms, the person passes through to a room where a ‘doctor’ (a church organizer) is seated, they reviews their sheet, have a (very) brief dialogue about those symptoms, and then either prescribes medicine or sends them on to see another doctor (for real this time, not a church organizer).
*This is only a hidden plus, as Honduras is notoriously known for teacher strikes and no school.
Take-aways:
- Religion has no tongue.
- Free drugs will cause a 560 person community to stop and wait in line for the entire day instead of work, and there won't be any school either.
- A medical brigade comes randomly for one day, it may come three times in a month but then not come again for another 12 months..so don't get sick in between that time, because you won't have any handouts when you actually may need them (this is not peak travel time, duuuh).
- Stock up on free drugs, fake your symptoms even, the doctors in medical brigades are often not actually trained, they are religious groups, this is full of retired people that want to do good by God.
- Move to France if you actually want real health care.
Empathetic and generous or are they jumping at the opportunity to impart religious ideals unto 'developing' countries. Is this a repeat of some many years ago when Columbus sailed the ocean blue and helped to 'civilize' all of those 'poor people'?
- How much can you really learn about a person and their medical history under such circumstances, given that you’re time crunched because you want to ‘help’ every single one of the people who walked however-many-hours from their towns and have been waiting in line since 6 AM?
- Is it not dangerous to prescribe medicine to people whose medical history you know absolutely nothing about?
- People aren’t actually sick in the moment the brigade comes. Rather, they’re jumping at the opportunity to see a doctor and be given medicine, in many cases, for the first time in their lives.
- That said, many fabricate symptoms, saying they have headaches or their ‘bones hurt’, and are given medicine regardless.
- The medicine itself is another issue. After the consult, they pass through to the pharmacy where they’re given all the drugs the 'doctor' decided they were in need of, and are hurriedly explained how to take each one. While there are instructions written on each bottle, the vast majority of the people who came out were illiterate, so they will have to rely entirely on that initial explanation- which in most cases included medicines for an entire family (and families in the campo are big)- in order to know how to administer each one to themselves and their children.
- On top of everything, there’s a good deal that these people overlook on a cultural level considering that they’re here for a matter of days and it’s impossible to learn about peoples’ lifestyle and habits given such a time frame.
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