Medical Mishaps

Sometime I don't blame laypeople for ( erroneously ) assuming that doctors earn the megabucks.

Judging by the hefty amount private medical practitioners charge in our fair city, I shouldn't be at all surprised by the assumption! And if Charming Calvin's reports are true, it's a pittance compared to the shockingly extortionate amount charged by the doctors in Beijing.

Inevitably falling prey to the horrid winter bug, Charming Calvin has been battling several bouts of fever and lethargy for the past few days but has stubbornly refused to seek treatment since he holds an inexplicable prejudice against the local physicians. But after what seemed like several hours of relentless prodding by me, Charming Calvin finally acquiesced and agreed to pay them a visit.


Now, doesn't this look like a face you can trust?
Much to his horror - and mine, after the initial examination, counseling and the prescription, the bill came up to almost a thousand dollars.

Really.

For a flu. I could have just dropped by a pharmacy and fedexed him the antibiotics.

How could a medical bill possibly cost that much? Even for a foreigner white devil, surely it shouldn't be a thousand bucks for a simple cough and cold? Surely the antibiotics given wasn't some secret panacea passed down by the sages past from the Tang Dynasty? Or did they somehow perform some magical curative moxibustion while they were examining?

With the price of western medicine, no wonder the local Chinese depend so much on traditional remedies. Maybe it's time Calvin dragged out that old crockpot and started boiling some rejuvenating herbs to balance out his yin and yang ( no doubt out of whack ).

Calvin : Doctor, I have a cough.
Dr Mistopheles : You should have an X-ray done.
Calvin : Okay.
Dr Mistopheles : Then some blood investigations. Some sputum and blood cultures, perhaps a thorough septic workout. And also a CT Thorax and an MRI.
Calvin : Is that all required? I only have a cough and cold.
Dr Mistopheles : Maybe even an angiogram and a endoscope while you're here.
calvin : Hmm.. maybe I should have bought some chrysanthemum tea.

That seems to be the only plausible method I could possibly find to explain how the bill could have amounted to so much. Short of the hospital actually having marble floors, diamond-encrusted elevators and hunky bellboys on every floor!