Stokkevn

I have been catching up on UK TV that I have missed over the last 40 years, sad I know but that is life. One program I watched was something called DIY SOS, where they fix up peoples homes, the one I watched was a Filipino couple where the husband had had an accident in Manila while on holiday in there, when the wife gave the hospital a call to say they were bringing him in for a brain injury the neurosurgeon actually gave her a list of equipment she had to buy and bring with them so that he could carry out the surgery.

I am not that healthy but do my best to stay away from doctors and hospitals, but is this normal operation here.

I also heard a few years ago that a Brit who had been shot died in hospital because they left him in the corridor until he came up with P200,000 to cover his treatment, sadly he died before the cash turned up.

scot47

Welcome to the Third World. That is definitely where the Philippines is. One of the downsides is that poor people die when they get sick.

Gazza-d

Letting the guy die before the money arrived seems a bit harsh and is illegal in the Philippines. The law states that minimum emergency aid should be give irrispective of the patiants financial state. Now if that happens is perhaps a topic for debate.

Stokkevn

I seem to remember reading it on a blog on PRA EURAMA web site about four/five years ago and people asking about using the time deposit as a guarantee for such events.

Stokkevn

Thinking about my topic I don't understand why I was surprised someone had to buy equipment for an operation, I have had professional carpenters doing work at the house and their first question was "Do you have a saw and tape measure we can use?" and an electrician who wanted to borrow a multi-meter and screwdriver.

Gazza-d

Multimeter and screwdriver, obviously a trained electrician. All our local guy asks for is some insulating tape because the tape on the handles of his pliers is becoming a bit thin.

BloodyBrilliance

As has been previously mentioned, such is the state of affairs in the Third World. For hospitals though, I think they have their own store inside the hospital for the relatives of the patients to buy the supplies from. I'm not sure why they'd rather do it that way instead of just charging it all and then billing them on the way out.

As for the person dying on the corridor due to lack of funds, I'm not sure why but that definitely should not be the case. Reality bites though, that this is not the first time I've read about such issues.