A few days ago a new baby was carried into the flat below mine. So when today at my desk I heard some crying noises from downstairs I was only a little surprised. Did not think a new baby would make enough noise to penetrate our thick walls. Also the rhythm did not seem quite right, but maybe I did not know anything about my neighbours and there was an older child. But it was not an 'I am being killed' kind of noise.
Much, much later, the noise had gone and come again, I went out, and in front of me went 'the noise' and a lot of people talking. Sounded a bit older - maybe the child was being taken to the doctors?
When I got to the bottom of the stairs I found the source of the noise. A woman of indeterminate age, 40s upwards but difficult to tell, was obviously in a lot of discomfort and had been taken out of the flat into an ambulance. Not on a stretcher, nicely wrapped up. Not on a folding chair that might go around the bends in the stairs, nicely wrapped up. On what looked like a tarpaulin with handles - presumably what they use all the time - absolutely not wrapped up, midriff showing, that kind of thing. No idea what was her problem, but imagine being on effectively a soft sack, and you have broken your hip or something. I heard people around her saying that they had waited for an hour for the ambulance (sounded longer to me, but maybe a doctor had been first). Given that the ambulance then shot off like a bat out of hell, with blue lights and sirens blaring, things obviously were not well - though at least the lady was still capable of making a noise.
But really, where we live there is no reason why an urgent ambulance can't be here within 20-30 minutes, unless there is no ambulance available. So that's how the public sector health service works?
Thursday 31 January 2008
Health care Lithuanian style (Public Department)
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3 comments:
The public health sector is probably one of the most corrupt in Lithuania and grossly inefficient. Many people have private health insurances and go to private practitioners instead of to the hospitals. Those who cannot afford this are referred to the public health service, where a visit to the doctor will need waiting in line an entire day for a five minute examination by a doctor demanding a kick-back. Perhaps one should be amazed that the ambulance actually showed up. Public health needs the same kind of investments that the police got some years back. Now, police is reasonably efficient with - in most cases - state of the art equipment and motivated officers. Then, of course, health services may not be regarded the same kind of priority as the police.
Though you would think that more people would be likely to need the services of the health service than those of the police, and that this should provide some form of pressure. Instead the doctors are complaining and complaining. At the moment they are cutting back on house visits, and today there was some other story about young hospital residents (ie young doctors) being unhappy with their lot. Overall I suspect life is not so bad for them; salaries have increased considerably in recent years, and then there are those kickbacks which people are very happy to pay....that's apart from when they rush off at 3 pm to go and treat people in private hospitals...
To be fair to the Lithuanian public health service, though, the one time I used it, after spraining my ankle, I did not have to pay anything at the hospital. Though according to modern practice I need not have been sent for x-ray, but the nurses sending me probably did not know that. Also they could have bandaged my foot up for me, instead of telling me to do it (and making me purchase my own bandage first). Then again, I probably looked competent to do it....had I been totally unable to walk on the thing I am sure things would have been different.....
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