For the past month I've had a tension head ache that just won't go away. I've had them before but never quite this bad. Whilst terrible and depressing, it has lead to some interesting Korea experiences and has offered me a perspective on private healthcare compared with the public healthcare service (the NHS) that we have in England.
First of all I went to the doctors alone, without my token Korean translator/chaperone. At the doctors here you can go without an appointment and usually get seen pretty quickly. All doctors know at least some English, as many of their textbooks are written in English. I went to Samsung Seoul Clinic in Doojeong-dong, the doctor there is the uncle of one of my students! He was very kind but he didn't cure my head ache. As health care is private here you pay a fee for seeing the doctor, whereas in England doctors appointments are free. It only cost £5 and was really easy to get seen, unlike in England where it's near-impossible to get an appointment, especially if you work during the day.
At the chemist, the pharmacist only had 6 of the 7 pills I was prescribed. To compensate for this terrible inconvenience, he gave me a whole packet of prescription-only tramadol, for FREE! It's a shame there's no black market here for prescription-only opiates! That's certainly something that would NEVER happen at home. At the chemist in Korea each drug has it's own price, whereas at home we pay at standard fee for any prescription, regardless of what drug we need.
Next in my search for head ache relief I went to see a neurologist. Now this really impressed me. Back in England, on our public health service, you have to wait months to see a specialist such as a neurologist. Here in Korea I turned up at a neurology clinic, with no appointment, was seen within 5 minutes, had a consultation with the neurologist who spoke to me in English, and walked out with a prescription 10 minutes later! All for the price of £7. Now I don't wish for the privatisation of the NHS at home, but I do wish it was as cheap and easy to go private as it is here. If it were, I think a lot of people would see a private doctor (for £7 it's affordable), and that would cut the waiting lists on the NHS.
As usual I was given a mystery bag of strange pills. Here, pills don't come with any information as they do in England; no details about side effects, when or how to take them, how they work... not even in Korea! Luckily I was able to read the name of the drugs in Korean on the prescription and google what they were.
 |
| Mystery blue pills. |
Having your boyfriend as your colleague has many benefits, one of them is that he kindly offers to take care of all your students when you're sick, giving you the day off to relax and get better. My wonderful Ric took my classes and got them to make me get well cards to cheer me up (because I really was bloody miserable). The cards certainly did cheer me up, the messages from my kinder students were sweet, funny, and touching. They had me in tears.
Here are some of my favourites:
"To: Steph teacher, Steph teacher get well soon and I'am sad because you are sick. I love you so~~~~ much." -Danny, 6 years old
"To: Steph teacher, Hello Steph teacher. I like you we are doing fine with Ric teacher get well soon"
- Cherie, 6 years old
"Get well soon. I like you. Sick is writing your mail Steph teacher. I love you steph teacher"
-Sophia, 6 years old
"To: Steph teacher. Steph techer get well soon. Today snack is strawberry"
-Alvin, 6 years old
Annie, 6 years old, thought getting the day off deserved some congratulating. She also spelled her name wrong (Ainne).
"To: Steph I love Steph fast finish and come get well soon!"
-Daniel, 6 years old
Ian, 6 years old, drew me some robots.
Ashley thinks I'm a princess.
"I love you. I think you are pretty but fast come to Wonberland."
-Olivia, 6 years old
Olivia's card.
Right now I'm feeling much better. The head ache hasn't gone yet, but it's manageable with the medication I got from the neurologist. Hopefully I'll be fully head ache free soon, but in the meantime it's nice to know that I can easily go and see a specialist if I need to.
