Skip to main content

doctors and other things


There are some things in life here I have been very pleased with. One of those is a small boast, that since we left the UK we have not been to the doctors, that’s 2 and a half years. That’s not a small achievement as we are both moving beyond the 60-land mark coupled with the amount of travel we have done in malaria areas, tag into that those general tummy upsets that seem more regular here. We have consulted the local ASM nurses and obviously a huge dose of God’s grace. We also planned to be back in the UK for a short period to get a local doctor and dentist to give us an MOT. Well that hope came to a slow but grinding halt recently. 


 We have been learning what it means to seek medical support and advice outside the NHS which is an interesting experience. To find a doctor here we rely on other people's recommendations and all have different opinions and experiences. Once the doctor is identified the first question the receptionist asked is do you have medical aid or are you paying private. Medical aid is private insurance which costs £100 per month each, then you take a supplementary insurance to cover the shortfall. 
The upside is we rang the doctors 9 o’clock in the morning and we were invited to come to see the doctor at 10 o'clock, yes the same day. We were with the doctor for 30 mins and felt well cared for. On leaving you pay the receptionist £20 not covered by medical aid. 
The doctor sends you to another medical centre where you take samples and have blood taken, waiting  time for this 10 mins. The receptionist informs me the results will be back in three days (it took 1 day) and once again she asks if I have medical aid or will it be private ie cash. For blood tests and because we get a pensioner’s discount we pay £65 for the tests. Then off to the pharmacy for medication cost £7. 


In any of the above appointments I sat in an air conditioned room. Two weeks ago Erin asked me to deliver a bed for examining patients at the clinic in Mshilozi. It’s one of my roles, I call it helping to keep other peoples plates spinning, small but hopefully significant contribution to the bigger kingdom.  As l left the bed and clinic with some of the most generous Christians I know. I had to steer the truck past two lines of people lining either side of the dirt track waiting to see a nurse (doctors won’t go). There was possibly 70 women and many children and babies and It was going to be 30 degrees that day, no shouting no protesting but quiet patience. Erin organises the lines takes tempreures and gives out tickets. As I drove passed the quiet parade of poor people I approached my turning, i stopped to pat salty tears from my eyes, and wondered why am I so privileged? 
Two days after seeing the doctor she rings me with the results, not the receptionist, the doctor. The doctor in a caring manner talks me through the results promising to email further help and directions, and invites me to come back anytime.  
This is not to say one system is better than the other as back in the UK a good portion of our marriage was given to work in and support the NHS. 
Because our return to the UK has been delayed again by the rise of covide infections our next task with self care is to explore the opticians and dentists. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Response To Bishop North

A while back Bishop Phillip North spoke to New Wine and caused a bit of a reaction one of it was a Tweet to my millions of followers. In response I had a phone call from The Church Times asking for a quote because I serve in a poor parish, I declined and said I would put a more considered response on my blog, so here it is with a link to The Bishops full talk. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/4-august/news/uk/there-s-a-future-for-the-church-if-evangelicals-put-the-poor-first-bishop-north-tells-new-wine 1.      One of the issues the church does not recognise is the exportation of people , talents and money from parishes like mine to middle class parishes which is draining and demanding on leadership. For 10 years I thought I was building a community, then it dawned on me I was building people up to go to other places. 2.      Bishop Phillip talks of abandonment of the poor: I think it’s more complicated than that. When ...
9 comments
Read more

Two thoughts

My two thoughts for the morning. As the BBC moves to replace the CofE as the national church of no belief, as parts of the BBC becomes more irrelevant in the new world is it possible The BBC will consume itself with its left wing cynical view? When the issue of faith is shown the back door and told not to come back who will the new priests and priestess pour their cynicism on? Perhaps themselves? For we all need the other voice who we don’t agree with to gain a greater understanding of who and what we are.  History tells us every regime needs someone to bully Secondly, will The Church not be better without these platforms of privilege? When we are no longer welcome on the platform of privilege as will happen at some point, will we not need to shape up to redefine what we believe, what we have to share, what we don’t need? Privilege tends to make you slow on your feet, breed chummy inward looking relationships, privilege steals from people the ability to move under the defining cult...
3 comments
Read more

YWAM Nensa

Mercy Air trip to  YWAM  Nen s a ,  Mozambique The  first mission trip of our  ‘ new normal ’   in South Africa  happened last week.   Azarja , our pilot, flew the team ;  which included Bruce, Stephen, Erin and Nigel  in the Cessna 310. We traveled from Mercy Air; to Kruger International (to exit SA); to Beira (to enter Mozambique); then on to Marromeu (12 hours total, including long waits for permits and visas – This is Africa!)   The drive by car ( in a  4x4) would take about 3 days on some very difficult ,  non-tarmac roads.  Allison and Leanna  drove  the final  1  1/2  hours  from Marromeu  to the YWAM base  at  Nensa .  As a rookie African  M ission ary,  I did  initially   feel a bit like Michel Palin without the film crew. The common red sand  road,  so   many people walking into the dark , headlamp beams throwing themsel...
4 comments
Read more