Medical care in Kenya

So I managed to get ill again... I thought I would wait it out but after 2 days of temperature, sore throat, feeling really dizzy and sweating a lot I thought I'd better read a bit more about malaria on the net... Until then I was under the impression that if you had a sore throat then I could not have been malaria... I was wrong though, apparently you can have sore throat also... Malaria has many flu-like symptoms and after reading about it all I have scared myself enough to decide to go to see a doctor.

There is a hospital nearby so I decided to go there. I was wondering about the cost involved and decided that I should check that first (so at least I had a chance to negotiate the price - yes, this is also possible here...). When I arrived at the hospital I headed straight to the cashier (all medical treatments are paid for by the patients, there is no such thing as free medical care in Kenya)... I was very surprised to hear that the malaria test was free - I definitely did not expect that and was a little suspicious... I also asked about the fee to see the doctor, expecting sthg like £5 or thereabouts... I was told it is 60Ksh (less than 60 pence...)...

I soon found out that the services which they offer pretty much match the price you are required to paid for it... I went upstairs to see the doctor and I told him I suspected I had malaria and wanted to do the test... I was also trying to explain him all the symptoms I was having but he was not really listening and told me to just go and do the test first... I was feeling absolutely terrible - my whole body aching and really dizzy... On top of that I couldn't face eating anything as just a thought of food was making me wanna throw up... So all this made waiting for the test results (they only prick your finger to get few drops of blood for testing), which took over 1 hr, even worse...

I was quite relieved though after finding out that I did not have malaria after all... It took me ages to get over it last time and I did not want to go through it again... By the time I went back to see the doctor, he was no longer there - must have gone for lunch and that takes around 2 hrs over here... Luckily there was another doctor available so I just went to see her... She just looked at me and said that I did not have malaria... I had to explain once more how I was feeling and she eventually took one look at my throat and said I had tonsillitis and I should take antibiotics... She didn't check my temperature, didn't ask any questions at all really...

I went downstairs to the chemist and waited in the queue for a while only to be told I need to pay for it first at the cashier's desk. When I went to pay, he was nowhere to be found - most probably also having lunch... After waiting for over half hour while someone looked for him finally I could pay for my prescription. He then tried to charge me more for the doctor's consultation (only 40p more but these days I don't like when people play with me), he was trying to tell me that the 60ksh charge was for residents and I wasn't one... But he could have clearly seen that when I asked the question originally - after all everyone can see I am not from here... He made few excuses but in the end charged me the original price. When I went to pick up the medicine the chemist was closed - another persona decided to take lunch... It was really frustrating... I did manage to get it after a while though...

Even though the medicine did make me feel better, I have read on the net that tonsillitis should not be treated with antibiotics... This now makes me wonder how knowledgeable that doctor actually was, what was the quality of their malaria testing and it is that is making me feel so unwell...

In conclusion, I think it is pretty accurate to say that you get what you pay for... ;)