Healthcare

     Healthcare is astonishingly bad here. It's shocking, and I'm not exaggerating. Whenever the topic comes up in conversation, Val gets angry about how bad it is. I'm going to describe it piece by piece.

     The state of the hospitals: It's gross. Plain and simple. The beds are old and falling apart. They are the ones covered in vinyl, and the vinyl has holes, rips, tears, empty patches, you name it. The walls are moldy. They stick 35 people in a room, regardless of age or gender, without any sort of barriers to give some privacy, with one dirty toilet. The lights are on only where it's necessary. We were walking to visit the Hope Foundation, stationed in the hospital, and half of the hospital was lightless. The same is true for air conditioning. I'm not a medical person, and it upsets me.

     Nurses: They do nothing. They actually do nothing unless a doctor explicitly tells them to do something. The day to day care for patients is administered by a family member that essentially lives with the ailing person in the hospital. Evelyn, Val's assistant, was hesitant to do anything without Val's permission when she started working with her. Once, Val was with a patient and someone put in the IV incorrectly, and the liquid started leaking into the arm, which, if not fixed, would have essentially rendered her arm useless. Val told the nurse she had permission from the doctor, which she did, but the nurse didn't let her do it until the nurse witnessed the doctor giving permission. And the nurse didn't even remove the IV, it was Val.

     Medical bills: Everything is upfront. If you can't pay for the procedure, including all of the medical supplies, you don't get it. All of the medicines are bought at pharmacies across the street after the doctor gives you a prescription. Money is often gotten after selling items of high value like motorcycles, tricycles, property, etc. and from the rest of the extended family. There is no such thing as a "charity case" here. I just recently got a text, unknown number, that someone was in an accident and is now in the hospital. Val said it was a scam set up by the phone company that, if I had replied, would have asked me to send money to the "hospitalized person". More often than not, people simply can't pay. People die from poverty.

     Malpractice: I only know what I know from pictures and what Val has described to me, so I don't know much, but here goes. Val showed me a picture of an infant with a broken leg, with a bottle of bleach as traction hanging off the bed (traction is used to keep broken limbs aligned for proper healing). First of all, infants don't need traction, their bones are soft enough that they'll just grow back together without a problem. Second of all, the fact that they use bleach bottles hanging off the foot of the bed is absolutely ridiculous. Burns treatment is also absurd. They do a lot of surgical debribement, which is essentially scrubbing the burned tissue away. Apparently the doctors do this regularly, every few days, and not only scrub away the burned tissue, but also undamaged tissue. This, as it sounds, is incredible painful. They also leave the wound open, which is one of the worst things you can do to a burn. They also essentially disregard scar management, which is almost the most important thing when treating a burn, otherwise you get horrible contractions. If that isn't addressed, essentially your body shrinks into itself. Val showed me pictures of a girl who had pretty horrendous burns to begin with. She went to a hospital in Manila for treatment for eleven months. Her scars were not taken care of, and she had incredibly bad contractions. Her shoulders shrank inward, her jaw sank to about mid-breast, leaving her mouth open at all times. Because of this, her tongue is below her lower teeth. Her eyelids come about halfway over her eyes. There is a very large lump of amalgamated flesh sitting in the middle of her chest. In other words, it's not a pretty sight. She is stuck at a 3rd grade mental level because after she got out of the hospital, schools wouldn't take her. All of it could have been prevented. All of it. She is now at an Australian hospital getting surgery to correct all of the contractions.

     This is what Val is dealing with. She is adamant about fixing the healthcare system, at least with burns, before she dies. And honestly, I hope she does it.