"Grishma?"
I usually don't wake up in the middle of the night when someone tries, but I'm glad I did this time, because I could hear pained groans coming from her side of the bed.
"Yeah?" I ask, eyes still closed.
"I have vertigo."
She's trembling. I check her forehead--no fever.
"What should I do?" I ask, still not completely awake.
"I need to go to a hospital in the morning."
She begins sobbing, and I can't think of what else do to, so I roll over and hold her.
"We'll go to a hospital in the morning," I reassure her.
I had gone to a hospital in Hyderabad two weeks ago when my foot started misbehaving. It's a fun new travel game I get to play every summer called Spin the Wheel of Foot Injuries (this time, it was a blister that kept doubling in size each day). I was a little worried about cost since I don't have Indian health insurance, but I was surprised to find that, even without insurance, my exam and medicine cost about 600 rupees (which is around $12). And it's not like the hospital was shabby. It had marble floors and a giant chandelier in the waiting lobby, and their system was fairly organized for walk-in appointments.
My friend's blood test, IV, medicines and checkup cost around 1300 rupees, or a little over $23. The doctor told her that she might have a combination of dehydration and spondylitis. She herniated a disk in her neck years ago, which seems to have become agitated from traveling (specifically, I think, from sleeping in a sitting position in cars, buses, planes, etc.) and it started causing vertigo and nausea. To check, she needed an MRI, which would have cost her $1,500 in the United States after insurance coverage, but cost her less than $200 in India. The facilities were just as good as any American hospital I've ever been to.
While she was vomiting every trace of matter in her stomach and saying things incoherently ("I really wish I had two lizards with me right now" or "Kendon, your leg-hair is really fun to pet"), I kept wondnering why healthcare is so cheap in this country. The facilities are good, at least in the two hospitals I've been to. Does it cost less to maintain these hospitals? Does the government fund healthcare really well? Is it because they use reusable materials where possible--bedpans instead of vomit-bags, for example? Is it because there are no insurance middle-men to pay?
I realized that I can't answer that question until I know what my American insurance does pay. Who is getting all this money, anyway? And why?
These questions remained unanswered today, but her health improved tremendously by the end of the night. And while I watched people move in and out of the hospital, I felt comfort when I thought about all the people who wouldn't have to worry about having access to healthcare because of cost as much as they do in the United States.
This isn't saying that the system here is perfect, I've heard stories of corrupt Indian doctors who recommend tests patients don't really need to make more money, and I have no idea how efficient the emergency rooms are here, but I do find it remarkable that the same procedures and tests are so much cheaper.
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I usually don't wake up in the middle of the night when someone tries, but I'm glad I did this time, because I could hear pained groans coming from her side of the bed.
"Yeah?" I ask, eyes still closed.
"I have vertigo."
She's trembling. I check her forehead--no fever.
"What should I do?" I ask, still not completely awake.
"I need to go to a hospital in the morning."
She begins sobbing, and I can't think of what else do to, so I roll over and hold her.
"We'll go to a hospital in the morning," I reassure her.
I had gone to a hospital in Hyderabad two weeks ago when my foot started misbehaving. It's a fun new travel game I get to play every summer called Spin the Wheel of Foot Injuries (this time, it was a blister that kept doubling in size each day). I was a little worried about cost since I don't have Indian health insurance, but I was surprised to find that, even without insurance, my exam and medicine cost about 600 rupees (which is around $12). And it's not like the hospital was shabby. It had marble floors and a giant chandelier in the waiting lobby, and their system was fairly organized for walk-in appointments.
My friend's blood test, IV, medicines and checkup cost around 1300 rupees, or a little over $23. The doctor told her that she might have a combination of dehydration and spondylitis. She herniated a disk in her neck years ago, which seems to have become agitated from traveling (specifically, I think, from sleeping in a sitting position in cars, buses, planes, etc.) and it started causing vertigo and nausea. To check, she needed an MRI, which would have cost her $1,500 in the United States after insurance coverage, but cost her less than $200 in India. The facilities were just as good as any American hospital I've ever been to.
While she was vomiting every trace of matter in her stomach and saying things incoherently ("I really wish I had two lizards with me right now" or "Kendon, your leg-hair is really fun to pet"), I kept wondnering why healthcare is so cheap in this country. The facilities are good, at least in the two hospitals I've been to. Does it cost less to maintain these hospitals? Does the government fund healthcare really well? Is it because they use reusable materials where possible--bedpans instead of vomit-bags, for example? Is it because there are no insurance middle-men to pay?
I realized that I can't answer that question until I know what my American insurance does pay. Who is getting all this money, anyway? And why?
These questions remained unanswered today, but her health improved tremendously by the end of the night. And while I watched people move in and out of the hospital, I felt comfort when I thought about all the people who wouldn't have to worry about having access to healthcare because of cost as much as they do in the United States.
This isn't saying that the system here is perfect, I've heard stories of corrupt Indian doctors who recommend tests patients don't really need to make more money, and I have no idea how efficient the emergency rooms are here, but I do find it remarkable that the same procedures and tests are so much cheaper.
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