This month began on a good note for me as God saved my house from getting burned down as a result of a faulty cable. Meanwhile, been battling with respiratory issues since childhood with re-occurring bronchitis and its associated discomfort.
So this past week the issue came up again and the drug I usually take didn't do the trick and I found myself going to the hospital this morning after struggling to breathe last night.
So this past week the issue came up again and the drug I usually take didn't do the trick and I found myself going to the hospital this morning after struggling to breathe last night.
I thank God I'm not one of those that fall sick often; prior to today's visit, I hadn't been to the hospital in years, I get malaria once or twice a year. So, I've every reason to be grateful to my maker. I noticed that everything has changed at the Garki Hospital where I have my Health Insurance registered (see, here in Nigeria, we still go to the particular hospital where we registered if we want access to our health insurance). The nurses were nicer, more eager to help. I was pleased.
When it was my turn to see the doctor, he was equally pleasant, asked all the necessary questions to get a background knowledge of moi and my health history. He took his time to explain the drugs he wanted to prescribe, what each contained and adverse effects, in case I have any allergy. I was impressed. You know why? Hmmmmm... the only person close to me who visits the doctor often is my mother and after each visit I find myself angry with the doctors.
For reasons best known to the doctors (I call them dokintas) in the East, Awka, Anambra State to be precise, they refuse to tell patients the drugs they're prescribing for them, or the test they want them to run and why they should run such tests. They just scribble on their pads, in that awful, illegible handwriting which I don't know if that's part of what they were taught in medical school, and which only the pharmacists can read. If you ask them what they've prescribed, the Dokintas take offence! Why??!!! I remember being told that a patient has the right to know the drugs you're prescribing for him/her. One actually asked my mum, when she told them that her daughter told her to find out the drugs they were about to give her and what the tests were for, if her daughter was a doctor. My mum replied in the negative, he said I had no reason to know that then! A doctor tried that with my younger brother once in my presence, we almost had a shouting match, but he answered me and kept fuming. I couldn't be bothered. What is wrong with these people??!! Did they not go to the same medical schools as their peers? Or do they feel they're dealing with illiterates who do not know their rights??
As a patient, you have the right to know the drugs they've prescribed for you. Unfortunately, some citizens do not even know that this is their right, and get cowered when the dokintas try to intimidate them.
Anyway, I've been placed on antibiotics and mild steroids, and advised to stay away from inhaling chemicals (as if I work in a factory or something) and dust (how can someone escape from dust in this country?). So, it'll be me and my bed this weekend while I recover.
P.S., get checked out, do not self-medicate. If I had continued with my Ventolin tablets, I wouldn't have known that this one don pass Ventolin.
Have a great weekend.
Hugs...
Nice read NIRA. The environment and applicable code of practice determines what applies, moreso each Doctor took a hypocritical oath, you can’t also rule out quacks in every profession. It’s nice that all was explained to you prior to giving you out your prescription, possibly the Doctor noticed that you were literate and you can comprehend the clarification and also handle your medication appropriately. Most times, people (especially in this part of the globe) abuse drugs. People hardly go to the hospital (with no justification for that, rather based on hearsay on the conditions of the health institutions) when they take ill and there is someone available, willing to give them prescription of similar medication when the symptoms appear to be the same, even when the diagnoses are not same. There are situations also (like when the HIV/AIDS became more prevalent) when there was the need to control what a patient gets to see before the proper counselling, for example imagine where a patient picks up his lab results heading to the hospital for discussions with a Doctor and decides to open it, only to spot HIV+ clearly written. Your guess is as good as mine. To safeguard against such, Doctors, rather Dokintas as you put it, prefer to scribble in such a manner (not ruling out the fact that some have terrible handwriting) that you need a learned personnel to be able to interpret the medication. Our pharmacies hardly make a distinction between prescriptive and off the shelf drugs, with a little tip or cajoling you can get almost any drug over the counter. In advanced countries, there is a clear demarcation of the prescriptive drugs which are protected and can never be sold to a patient without prescription. Once you have these barriers imposed, there would be no fear in letting everyone know that which is being prescribed. We should also do away with the I-too-know culture of self-medication and even prescribing for others, just because the Doctor administered the set of drugs for similar symptoms. With the right environment and equipment for the Doctors to work, they have no option but to sit up. I should presume that some other colleagues of that particular Doctor within the same hospital will have to sit up, if they haven’t; else he takes the shine away from them when patients commend his approach. The hospitals too should be able to identify and reward hard work. It is a duty of all to improve the sector: go to the hospital, give appropriate history, demand for explanation on administered drugs, safeguard against self-medication, ask for improved services, commend and spread the word on exemplary personnel, drop improvement suggestions for management, and the list continues. It may seem hard, but we all have to bear the brunt to make it happen, not only in the health but other sectors too.
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