a day with a cuban doctor

We went to San Jose village today. Our medical director at Hillside was unable to go with us as his back has been giving him grief. We were gearing up for a day off, when word came that government doctor at San Antonio had few patients and would come with us, Thus, we headed off to the village once again on bumpy dirt roads. Belize like much of Central and South America has quite a few Cuban doctors. I was interested in seeing how they function, having been told that medicine is quite good in Cuba and that their training was supposedly comparable to ours.

Clinic turned out to be quite frustrating. Some of it was probably due to a language barrier, The Cuban doctor's English was not perfect, but it also had to do with philosophy. We are so use to asking complete histories, doing full exams and then presenting them to our preceptor (the doctor overseeing us). We set about to do this but quickly found that the doctor only wanted cheif complaints and then s brief physical finding. He had no time it seemed for more. A patient would complain of headache/backache and they would get Tylenol. They would complain of cough and have some coarse upper respiratory sounds and they would get amoxicillin. I felt that we were giving drugs out like candy. He seemed to want to give everyone Tylenol and/or Benadryl. It was crazy. It reminded me of my experience of being a patient in India back in college when complaints were given and then drugs were doled out. It was crazy to be a part of and definitely made me appreciate the American, British, and Australian doctors that come here and provide an alternative to this type of care. It was also shocking because it was not what I had expected coming into the experience. Maybe Michael Moore wasn't completely right about medical care in Cuba in "Sicko."

Finally made some real coffee, but the beans were a little bitter. I will have to see if Jeff's one of the administrators here at Hillside who also happened to be roommates will Will Shortz of crossword fame, home roasted coffee is better. Hope all is well at home and that the cold weather soon ends for you.