Part of a long-term full-immersion experience into another culture/country might involve an occasional trip to the ER (Urgencias). For me it did. I got a shot in my butt (sciatica pain) on a Sunday night in a dirty-yet-free public hospital. The health care system in Argentina is free/socialized(?), yet everyone I know pays insurance to get better private healthcare. Not me.
The Hospital de Clinicas is a teaching hospital linked up with the state-run Universidad de Buenos Aires, and like any state-funded building anywhere (courthouses in Massachusetts for instance), it’s severely under-funded. But under-funding a courthouse in Massachusetts means that maybe the furniture is outdated and broken. Here it means that there are holes in the ceiling, half the fluorescent lighting is busted or hanging from a wire, and water is running down the walls from broken pipes. Chairs are ripped up and broken here too, maybe they found them in a courthouse dumpster. It also means that the men’s room has sinks that don’t work and, well, it looks like it’s never been cleaned. Imagine an abandoned building that’s been reoccupied after 20 years of neglect. I guess I can’t describe it well enough in words. I mean, I saw a guy deliver some clean linens with an old shopping cart. That was on my second trip to the hospital, when the secretary told me “no hay sistema”, or “the computers are broken”, so without a proper appointment I’d have to wait three hours in order to see the doctor for three minutes. This is all free, so you really can’t complain. Actually… I had to pay about $2.50 for the consultation. What happened to free?
OK, enough negativity! I love Argentina! On the other-hand/bright-side, I have visited friends in private hospitals that are wicked nice, highly secure, strict visiting hours. It is definitely worth paying for insurance. I don’t know. I just hope I don’t need surgery on my protruded/herniated L4-L5 disc! I feel 70 years old.
[mp3] Ryan & Cortney – Sickness in the City
[YouTube] Unrest – So So Sick
