In fact, in any medicine, several medicines live their own completely separate lives. Non-intersecting - like parallel lines. And each of them is completely different. It is necessary to distinguish the so-called medicine of terminal states (actually emergency medical care, resuscitation, etc.), the medical insurance system, municipal and private medicine, and - much, much more. For example, our dentists - after, God forbid, dental treatment "abroad" - will seem to you not only highly qualified specialists, but simply unmercenary people.
People who have lived abroad and, out of necessity, have closely encountered their medics face to syringe, undoubtedly have something to tell the world. And also to practice the clear and public pronunciation of obscene curses. The author of this material also had the misfortune to fall into the clutches of foreign aesculapians. However, for reasons of censorship, we will still refrain from using words from the lexicon of Barkov's heroes. But it would not be superfluous to acquaint the reader with a number of examples (from my own experience and gleaned from stories of friends and acquaintances). The countries where the situations described in the material occurred are deliberately not named. This can happen to anyone and anywhere - in the expanses of the world that has recently opened up to us.
For example, the opinion that they have better medicines is as widespread as it is wrong. A significant proportion of medicinal products manufactured by domestic pharmacological factories has long since ceased to be used in the West. But! This does not make our medicines any less effective, and they cure ailments exactly the same as at the time of their appearance, some thirty years ago.
The point is that Western pharmaceutical companies release identical drugs under hundreds of different names. For example, the well-known aspirin, paracetamol, and analgin have hundreds of "brand" names. And the difference lies only in the shape of the tablet, the color of the powder, and the box design. Well, and, of course, in the price. And the more clips and posters there are in a country praising a "new revolutionary remedy that instantly relieves pain" (hemorrhoids, shortness of breath, fatigue, mild pregnancy, difficult urination, etc.) - the more expensive each tablet will be. The money spent on advertising must be returned - and also earn a hard-earned penny. Therefore, those who take a bag of cheap Ukrainian medicines with them on long trips abroad are a thousand times right. Indeed, they are no worse than their foreign counterparts (not recommended to be taken as a direct instruction to action).
Of course, one should not indiscriminately disparage everything "theirs." For example, new antibiotics first appear precisely in the foggy bourgeois distances and only after some time - on the former socialist expanses. For this purpose, developed countries of the Western world have hundreds of research laboratories; both pharmaceutical companies and the state allocate significant funds for research and development of promising drugs. However, here is an unembellished story from foreign life with a small backstory.
As is known, the diplomas of our doctors are not adequately accepted there at the outset. Our people face a system of recognition and approval of a diploma (certificate), license, qualification assignment, and similar red tape. By the way, at the very beginning of the mass exodus from the Union, in the already distant 90s, our doctors were received with enthusiasm in the West. The fact is that their system of medical education provides not only obtaining a more than narrow specialization, but also treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation schemes that have been established over the years. Deviation from which is punished not by death, but by something worse - entanglement in soul-wearying and wallet-draining litigation.
Graduates of the Soviet system are less rigid in their approaches to treatment, since we were unfamiliar with lawsuits with patients, and the education itself was and still is more advanced and of higher quality. A Ukrainian pediatrician will successfully treat your tonsillitis or save you from an attack of peptic ulcer disease without referring you to narrowly specialized colleagues on the grounds that, they say, we didn't cover this.
But over time, the situation changed. Having sensed serious competitors in the "Russians," foreign doctors created such a system of obstacles to obtaining the right to practice in the specialty that not every one of our compatriots from cities and villages is able to overcome them without resorting to nitroglycerin and sedatives. Which, as already noted, cost a lot of money in the West.
Here is my acquaintance, a pediatrician with 15 years of experience, having already obtained citizenship, before gaining access to local patients, underwent an internship in a private clinic for another two years. She got her first shock when she learned that in almost all cases, without resorting to detailed diagnostics, people are prescribed antibiotics. And little children too. Her first reaction to what was happening in her department was to resist this system, to recommend more acceptable methods of treatment and prevention. It's like not going into someone else's monastery with your own charter, but she felt sorry for the children. However, having received an angry rebuke from local specialists for her heartfelt impulses and having heard phrases like "you've all flooded here!!!", she made an unambiguous conclusion: "What the hell do I need all this for!? These are their children, so let them treat them their own way!"
However, not everything is bad abroad. For example, unlike Ukraine, in most normal foreign countries there is a whole system of state subsidies for the production of children's goods and food. And for doll-sized jeans for a beloved child, you don't have to shell out almost as much as for a pair for yourself. And all sorts of sweet cheese curds, yogurts, purees, and sour creams are quite affordable in price for buying them and then feeding them to your "bunny" or "sunshine." In addition, every child, as soon as born, is assigned to a particular insurance company or so-called medical fund. And parents, for a purely symbolic fee, get the opportunity to drag the kid to all sorts of specialists and buy medicines with significant discounts (sometimes up to 90%).
But it must be admitted that giving birth, feeding, clothing, and raising a child abroad (and especially, God forbid, treating one) is not a cheap pleasure. Therefore, such a step as having an heir is carefully planned, especially in families where both husband and wife consider themselves middle class, and therefore work "non-stop." It is in poor neighborhoods that you can easily meet a family of four or five little brothers and sisters. In relatively wealthy families, this is not customary. For if they have decided to have a child, he should not subsequently be deprived of the proper meals, entertainment, education, and living space. And that is big money.
But parents consciously make sacrifices for the sake of their son or daughter. The tales that at 16 a child is put out on the street, like, already grown up, go work, are nothing more than fairy tales. Maybe some American psychos do that, but in Europe, Canada, and Israel, mostly the whole family runs, jumps, fusses, and dotes around the heir. And grandfathers and grandmothers compete in every way: who will buy a more expensive gift, who will take Pierre, Mario, or Nechama with them to Nice or Eilat.
Returning to medicine, it must be said that in the West there is practically no such branch as prevention. Both children and adults are treated for consequences. The obesity (if not to say fatness) of French, Spanish, Israeli, and other bourgeois children that has become a byword is due to parents' ignorance of elementary things. For example, the fact that one should not daily feed one's son a dozen and a half croissants, half a bucket of French fries, and let him wash it all down alternately with Coca-Cola and chocolate milk. Even if the child likes it.
But then in pharmacies queues form for all sorts of dietary supplements, vitamins as expensive as a mother-in-law, and various weight-loss remedies. And many pharmacological companies are part of holdings that include not only pharmacies but also chains of fast-food restaurants along with food industry enterprises. A kind of closed cycle under the slogan "we maim, we also heal." Business, however.
In general, living abroad, you notice first of all not the differences between our life and theirs as a whole, but only those that directly affect the contents of your own wallet. Say, dental treatment is a very noticeable blow to one's financial situation. On the other hand, when it comes to a child's health, you will go to any lengths. And since abroad children are much more often fitted with corrective plates on their teeth, you obediently write out a check to the dentist, consoling yourself with the thought that at least the little one will smile like Hollywood. If there is something to smile with when he grows up... Because not all medical services are paid. And everything free, as is known, is fraught with consequences.
So, in one city located on the territory of some prosperous European monarchy, the municipal authorities introduced a program for free dental sanitation for public school students. Subsequently, it turned out that, regardless of the condition of the mouth, each little patient was treated by "programmed" dentists with one tooth per month for six months. When upon arrival in Ukraine our young compatriot showed his teeth, an experienced dentist crossed himself, and then spat for a long, long time. It turned out that the child had fillings made of a metallized compound that is categorically not used in children due to the presence of toxic substances in it. But then - "freebie, please."
Note that in the West a much greater number of children wear glasses. Presumably, for vision correction. It must be said that the purchase of lenses and frames is also not covered by insurance. Therefore, a quite natural thought arises - aren't local ophthalmologists earning money that way? Therapists - they are surely on contracts with pharmacies. Because no matter how many times you go to a doctor, there has never been a case where he prescribed the old tried-and-true multivitamins. Every time you are offered to buy a new drug. As if with the increase in price, the quality of vitamins also increases. But the well-being of Senor Aybolitus - it certainly increases. In full accordance with the words of the hero of Leonid Bronevoy in "Formula of Love," that if the doctor has eaten, then the patient feels better...
It is worth saying that buying even relatively cheap drugs without a prescription and insurance (that is, without presenting a plastic card of the corresponding insurance company or medical fund at the pharmacy) will cost you a pretty penny. Sometimes the difference between the cost of a drug bought without a prescription and the exact same one but with a prescription is several times.
Once I came down with a most unpleasant quinsy that coincided with the weekend. Calling an "ambulance" for such "trivial" reasons is not customary abroad. Treating it with raspberry jam for two weeks is also not an option, since absence from work for any reason is not exactly encouraged there. Unless it's early dismissal. I had to stagger along the wall, with fever and dizziness, to the nearest 24-hour pharmacy. A pack of antibiotics bought without a prescription blew such a hole in the family budget that if there had been a family, it would certainly have fallen apart. By the way, the robbing antibiotic was the well-known erythromycin. But under a brand name and in such an amazing package!..
Stories about medicine abroad could give even our domestic surgical tales a run for their money. My acquaintance Marina's infant developed a fever at night and diarrhea. This happened in a seaside country, a worthy member of the European Union. In the morning, they went to a pediatrician, who, before making a diagnosis, sent the mother to take a dysbiosis test. The insurance did not cover that type of test, and materials were collected only twice a week. The baby's condition was deteriorating, but there was nothing to be done—they had to wait for the long-awaited results, without which the doctor had nothing to say. At the zero hour, Marina arrives at the laboratory and receives this answer: "The results will be ready only in two weeks." - "What?!" - "We're on strike!" They had to find another office and start all over again. Thank God, the child's body turned out to be strong enough and held on until treatment began.
And here's a little story from adult life. A female acquaintance of mine came down with a women's ailment. She needed to see a gynecologist. She had insurance. The scheme in this case is simple: from the catalog of public and private clinics, you choose any specialist provided by your insurance system. Then it's to your taste: closer to home, the doctor's reputation, advertising nuances, a pleasant surname. Then you make an appointment by phone and come at the scheduled time.
The poor thing hobbled with acute pain to the coveted office and waited for the appointment. She felt relieved when she entered the working quarters of the private doctor, which occupied a three-room apartment. A cozy waiting room: armchairs, a coffee table, the most fashionable magazines on it, tea-coffee-cappuccino... The doctor, as usual, examined her, took tests, examined with the most advanced ultrasound of the time. And most importantly, with every movement he invariably apologized for the possible pain caused, tirelessly asking: what do you feel, how do you feel, and with what do you feel.
At this point, all the delights of bourgeois service can be considered over. For the results of the examination and the announcement of the treatment method, she was told to come back in a week; the factor of acute pain was not taken into account, because that's not how they do things there. To the question: maybe some medications in the meantime or something, the answer was unequivocal: "Make an appointment - we'll have a look at you." The patient had two questions at once: "And where were you looking five minutes ago?" and "What to do with this pain for a whole week until the next visit?"
The next story is a hairy one. During pregnancy, our compatriot Tanya's metabolism or something else went wrong. In short, she developed dandruff. What would you do in her place? Right—you'd see a dermatologist. And she did. But the overseas dermatologist sent her to a pediatrician. Like, our doctor-patient relationship ends here, because your condition is no longer such that you should see an "adult" dermatologist. Who knows how they do things there, Tatyana thought. Especially since she already had the address of the recommended specialist in her hands.
The expectant mother went to the vaunted pediatrician. He said that treatment was not his specialty—he was more about children—and bounced her back to the dermatologist. Returning to the dermatologist full of reproaches, she insisted on an examination. "Seborrhea oleosa," the doctor concluded without beating around the bush. "For pity's sake," she doubted, "is it really that far gone? You'd have to not wash your hair for three weeks to get it that greasy. Besides, my hair has become dry and brittle." "For now, don't wash your head and come back in about three weeks, then we'll see whether you have oily seborrhea or something else," the healer summed up in all seriousness.
I also had a chance to visit their clinic as a patient. With a pinched nerve in the spine. It should be noted that private clinics provide round-the-clock service, albeit with a limited number of staff and specialists. But such "mainstream" things as measuring pressure, temperature, getting a prescription for medications—you're welcome anytime! I was lucky; that evening, a traumatologist was on duty at the clinic. Immediately—to X-ray: in profile and full face of the entire spine area. The equipment requires the patient to be lying down. The doctor had two assistants. The films were ready in a matter of minutes. The doctor carefully studies the damaged area and prescribes... vitamins.
And finally, a curious incident that is more about linguistics than medicine. A Ukrainian woman, who had just arrived abroad, suspected she was pregnant. To confirm or refute the suspicion, she needed to buy a pregnancy test at the pharmacy. Not knowing the language well, she decided to ask her friend Katya for a favor. Namely, to buy this test for her if possible. When Katya agreed, the company listening to the dialogue burst into infectious laughter: Katya herself was in her seventh month of pregnancy. Everyone imagined how such a matryoshka would buy a test and what the pharmacist's eyes would look like...
Generally, of course, medicine is very, very different. Both here and there. Somewhere an ambulance arrives faster, and somewhere medicines are cheaper. In Ukraine, medics are mostly more competent, but their salaries are, well... And this does not increase the desire to treat. You might as well work abroad all the time, and get treated exclusively at home. But, as they say in Israel, it will be fine. However, wise Jews for some reason do not specify when, where, and with whom.