Source: FotoliaEar infection in a third world country— emergency?
Nope.
After waking up in the middle of a night with my ear making a solid attempt at exploding I tried a bunch of different home remedies to no affect. And, without any other option, I headed off the the hospital recommended by the guy working at the hostel, Hospital Espanol- which, despite the intimidating name, apparently had English speaking doctors.
On arrival, I walked in to the scene of people bustling about as with any good hospital. I couldn’t find any place that sounded like emergency room so I walked to the pharmacy, and attempted to ask for the emergency room in pathetic Spanish.
The girl there sympathetically motioned for me to go down the hall and to the right, so I followed, and saw some doors with a sign- the sign looked like it said something along the lines of “Authorized Personnel Only”, but I decided to play dumb foreigner and walk in anyways. On walking in, I asked where to find a doctor in broken Spanish, and motioned to my ear. The nurse there asked something and then motioned to her ear exploding, and I assented to the tune of si, si, si.
From there, she led me to the part of the facility that specializes in ears, she spoke to the other nurse there, and a quick conversation, the second nurse tried to talk to me, but my lack of Spanish wasn’t helping matters. Luckily, the man next to me spoke English, and translated- she asked if I was covered by Argentinean insurance, I said no, and she informed me, rather worriedly, that I would have to pay cash for the exam. I said that’d be ok, and was led me to the cashier. The cashier asked for but sixty pesos ($20 USD ), gave me a receipt, and the nurse then led me back to the ear clinic.
From there, I waited twenty minutes, and the ear clinic nurse motioned me over. She then led me directed to the doctor, who greeted me with “You’ll have to speak slowly, but we’ll be able to understand eachother” in perfect English.
Score!
The doctor proceeded to quickly and efficiently check my ear, ask the relevant questions about snot and symptoms, listened to a rundown of the course of my infection, and then informed me that I did indeed have an ear infection. He explained how an ear infection works via his diagram to the side of his desk, and walked me through the medication he was prescribing , how often to take them, and wrote out the prescription. He then directed me to the pharmacy across the street.
Done!
I took the prescription, went across the street to the pharmacy, handed across the prescription, the guy took it, got the medication, I paid via debit card, and all was well.
For a $20 exam, no insurance, and a scant $25 for medication. In the US, it could well have run into the hundreds, though, to be fair, I am insured in the US, the fact that it’s possible to get excellent, knowledgeable, affordable, and efficient medical care in Argentina without insurance speaks volumes. If you’re going to get an ear infection, do it in Mendoza, Argentina, and ask your cab driver to take you to the Hospital Espanol.
