Hospitalized

[Disclaimer: I didn’t want to violate anyone’s privacy by publishing personal health information without first obtaining consent from the relevant parties. The following has been reviewed by the patient and approved for use on my blog.]

A few weeks ago my tutor and friend, Ludmila, went to the hospital in the neighboring city/village for surgery. About six years ago, during a physical most teachers have each fall, it was discovered that she had a small ovarian or cervical tumor. She delayed in having the surgery. About two years ago it started causing her pain.

As of a few years ago, teachers here have health insurance. About 3-4 percent of Ludmila’s salary is withheld for this purpose and is supposed to get her free prescriptions, hospital stays, and treatments. The system in this case worked… somewhat. Ludmila did not pay a dime for her surgery or subsequent week-long stay in the hospital. However, the surgeon when he did his rounds, would not actually check on her recovery. He told her that the surgery was very difficult, taking 3 hours instead of the typical one, and that she should think about all the extra work he did to not lose her on the operating table. He wanted $150. After she gave it to him, he checked on her daily, cleaning the incision and applying new bandages.

While I think this blog’s readership may initially recoil at the idea of this extra charge – and I myself am not thrilled about it – it’s important to at least see where the other person is coming from. I don’t know what this surgeon’s salary is, but it probably well below commensurate with his education, and he too must support (probably) a family. If he cannot earn enough legally, he must resort to other means.

[If I can go off on a tangent for a second here… this is a problem throughout Moldova in many professions. Because salaries are so small, some teachers, police officers, politicians, and others must resort to a kind of extortion just to survive. So pervasive is it that not everyone view this as anything expressly illegal – just the cost of doing business. Of course, there are those who do not adhere to this system.]

A few days after Luda’s surgery, I went to the hospital to visit. As expected, it is a far cry from the cathedrals of health that hospitals have become in America. Paint was peeling off walls and stairwells and hallways were only dimly lit. However, it did seem clean and warm. In Ludmila’s large room, there were six beds for six patients, all of whom seemed happy to chat with each other. I was offered some home-made juice by one and shared some oranges that I brought for Ludmila with the rest.

The best part of my visit came about an hour into my stay when several other teachers from Ludmila’s school showed up to say hello. At that moment, to hear the emotion in their voices and the concern on their faces, it was clear that everyone there cares very deeply about Ludmila. They, like me, brought gifts – lots of canned food, which Luda stowed next to her bed in a cabinet already overflowing with similar presents.

Ludmila is home now and seems to be recovering well. The goose-egg-sized tumor was placed in a jar and brought by Ludmila’s husband to Cahul, a city about 1.5 hours away. There it is being tested to see if it is cancerous or not. The results should likely be known in a few days.