Healthcare

Our family is blessed with good health. Dave and I may get hit with the random cold or flu, but plenty of rest and fluids usually do the trick for us. Neither of us has seen a doctor while in Shanghai, and I hope to see that trend continue for the entirety of our stay here. However, I have been inside the expat clinics a number of times since we moved, with L-- and S--. There have been well-baby visits where S-- received shots. There have been ear aches, prescription refills and bouts of wheezing. Generally healthy problems, I imagine. And thank goodness - because I'm not impressed with the healthcare we receive. And I should note that we are said to be receiving the top available healthcare in China.

I took L-- in last week for flu-like symptoms and an ear ache. We saw a new doctor, because our regular pediatrician recently moved to the states. The correction in my thinking came quickly - we will not have a regular pediatrician in Shanghai. We visit a clinic, and we see whoever is available - we only hope that we will see a pediatrician. This time we saw a family practice doctor, whose manner with children was clearly not practiced. At one point he told L-- that what he was doing would hurt quite a bit if she wiggled at all. He was only looking inside her ears!

The doctor worked at his desk for a moment before coming to examine her, and did not wash his hands in the interim. He asked that L-- breathe through a nebulizer for 20 minutes, something which has been prescribed in the past. The nurse who came in to help with the nebulizer needed my help putting it together - she had just slathered her hands with lotion and they were too oily to work the machine. We left with the nebulizer and its pieces. Having experience with this machine, I knew that it needed to be cleaned after every use. Besides which, I only rented the machine this time and so wanted to rid it of other people's germs. She said not to worry - there is no need to clean it at all. This made me immediately nervous about the use we had in the office already - had it not been cleaned yet?

I am in regular contact with our pediatrician from St. Louis, whom I asked about these practices. He responded that "I'm shocked (shocked, I say!) to find that the country that is home to SARS and Bird Flu has less than immaculate hygiene practices in place." Lets not even get into the spitting, peeing and even pooping on city streets and the frequency of strangers touching our children's hands and faces. Its no wonder we're sick more often here!