Ah, the varied expereinces in India...

Well, for those of you wondering what the Medical System looks like in India, I can now tell you. The Emergency Room is really nice, and the hostpital in general is actually quite nice.

Joel had himself a good ole time. Main quick message is that I am back home and relatively well...

Warning, some icky details to follow.

Well, I can now speak to the India Health Care System! I had myself an accident, slipped on some water that leaked out of an air conditioning unit, and "banged" my foot into the door. Well, actually, my foot went under the door, the nail of my big toe went over the door... Re-locating your toe-nail that way is a bit painful and really produces quite a bit of blood, might I say.

The ER here is very good, and puts our US ones to shame on price, as well as most things... They removed the nail and bandaged it in the ER, and gave me some fun pain meds that made me sleepy. The great part of the experience was that it was soooo much better than any other medical experience that I have had in the US... granted, this was a private hospital, so a "higher end" one, but still... wait for the price tag later in this story.

So, I get to the hospital, and at least two attendants come out and escort both me and Judy in the Door, and then another person lead us quickly down the hall to the emergency wing. There, at least three nurses made sure I was comfortable, offered me water, and got me situated. They quickly told me thier opinion that the nail would have to be removed, but said the surgeon would be down shortly to give his opinion as well... And shortly was actually shortly - five minutes or so. So, I got treatment first, and then asked for payment and details second... The whole process, including the medical procedure and resting afterwards, and payment, and getting prescriptions, took no more than an hour.

And the total bill? About $75 rough US dollars, including painkillers and anti-biotics, plus the entire ER charge.

The picture below is right when I got back and was calling work to let them know I was mostly alright...



My main gripe at the moment, since the pain meds are working fairly well, is that I didn't get any pictures of the pre-hospital run... not that I need to share those, but hopefully it is a once in a lifetime event, and I would love to see it when I'm not half-way in shock.

Talk to you later - Joel