Going to the doctor: After trying naturopathic medicine to clear up an
excessive ear wax problem which made understanding broken and/or heavily
accented English even more difficult than it already is as I could only hear
from one ear, I took the advice from one of my friends on the hotel staff who
also has ear problems and headed off to a eye, nose, throat (ENT) doctor in
Dehra Dun. I figured you Americans who grouse about their issues with the
medical field will appreciate the experience at the clinic.
First, there are no set appointments. You just show up and wait until your number is called -
I only had to wait about 90 minutes. Second, there is no privacy. The
doctor has three different patients in his “private” office at any one time.
As far as I could tell, you rotate your seat closer to the doctor as your
turn comes up. Third, medical practices vary by countries. In America, we
are taught to not even put a cotton swab in our ear canal and this doctor
stuck a very long, needle like steel stick with a bit of cotton wrapped over
the sharp tip to clean my ear. Yes, that experience was painful but luckily
the prescribed Western ear wax drops have done the trick so I didn’t have to
return for the requested second visit. How much did all this fun cost me you
may be wondering? About US$1.00 for the visit and fifty cents for the
prescription.
