A visit to the hospital

Don't be alarmed by the title I am perfectly fine.  On October 27th I woke up with a very soar throat, which in the USA I would have taken cough drops and gone to school, or if I was feeling lazy would have convinced my mom to let me stay home.  Because it is Ghana it was 4:30 am that I went into the kitchen to tell my mom who was cooking that I had a soar throat, she told me I needed to go to the hospital, I thought that was overdoing it but she insisted.  Since she was going to Accra for the day she left the house by 5.  I slept until 8 (and cried because I was homesick) then I caught a taxi to my moms work in town where my dad and one of my moms workers met me, they then took me to the hospital which is literally 100 yards from my moms work but I had never noticed it before because it is behind all sorts of run down Ghanian homes and other buildings.

I am not writing this to explain what happened to me but to share what going to the hospital is like for all Ghanaians.  I don't know how it is all run but I'll try to explain it as best I can.  The hospital is small, you sign in and wait outside.  When you sign in you show an insurance card or pay some money.  For me, my dad took me to the female recovery room where there were about 4 beds with sick people in them.  The nurse in there sat next to a computer and she asked me what was wrong I told her and she typed it in to the computer. Then took me to another room where another person and nurse were and she weighed me and took my temperature.  She then sat me in a room with about 40 others one at a time we went into one doctors office, each patient taking about 2 min.  When it was my turn the doctor just said go to the lab, this was after I waited for about 1 1/2 hours.  I didn't really know what was going on but I went and sat with about 50 others waiting out side the lab.  The same nurse who helped me in the begaining called me into the female recovery room again, where I saw the nurses giving soda and fried food to the patients.  I was sat down on a bed next to a girl with tubes coming out of her wrist, across from us were two little girls who also had tubes coming out of them and were asleep.  The nurse all the sudden was tying some rubber tube around my wrist tightly, then I saw the needle in her had and realized it was for me.  She turned my hand over cleaned it then put the needle in and withdrew my blood.  She put a cotton ball on it and told me to hold it on my hand till it stopped bleeding.  I went and sat outside with my dad we sat there for three hours I slept most of the time, most others there did the same.  Around 1 the same nurse told me they needed my urine and she gave me a small container. After giving it back to her I sat again for another half hour.  Through all this I was never told why this was happening, or if anything was wrong but it seemed like that's the experience for everyone who goes to the hospital.  When results come from the lab it is for about 20 people so we all go back to the one doctor who tells us what's wrong, so after waiting for another hour I was told I have a small infection, but no malaria.  So the doctor sent me to the pharmacy which is in the same building where I go some vitamin c, again after waiting for another hour.  So after sitting all day at the hospital I learned that I could have gone and bought oranges instead.  But it was really eye opening to see the medical system here, it really shows how privileged we are in the USA.  The things that stood out to me were that everyone there looked fairly wealthy.  There is no such thing as appointments you only go to the doctor when needed.  Getting into the doctors office involved lots of arguing between patients cause everyone wanted to finish as soon as possible.  I had a needle stuck in me, and no one told me why it was happening the only reason I knew was because I saw the needle in her hand.  If you need serious medical attention you must go to Accra, where they have more resources.  Even though for medical reasons the visit was pointless, I'm glad I got to experience that part of Ghana.