The phone rings constantly in the early morning but Isabelle's Grandparents are away, for once, at their other residence by the sea. These callers are in all probability desperate Mothers of sick children. Grandfather seems to be the only healthcare system available in Trang-Bang and covers both angles, Conventional and Chinese.
The Pharmacy is looking a little tired after all the years of 7-days-a-week queuing to see the Great Dispenser of Herbal Remedies, now a nonagenerian. Hardwood drawers are stuffed full of esoteric dried substances which are then heaped up into the appropriate combination following diagnosis in Grandfather's consulting room. Alternatively one may be prescribed a bottle of brown liquid tincture best described as a Tonic, possibly for the nerves.
One may scoff and say that it could all be one form or other of 'snake oil' and at worst it doesn't do you any harm, but the business has remained popular. This has provided a considerable bounty as there is no free healthcare in Vietnam.
It's rumoured that take-home is something of the order of 2000$ US. a-day. One can appreciate the position that this provides when many of the population have to make do with one $ a-day...
"If a person is poorly, receives treatment to make him better, then no amount of reasoning known to medical science can convince him that it may not have been the treatment that restored his health" - Peter Medawar.
2 comments:
!sdrawkcab tnemmoc siht gnipyt si reggolB nosaer emos rof tbu ,yhw erus toN
?on ,sevlesmeht rof kaeps seidemer eht taht ,'nikrow llits s'eh taht nevig ,yas ot evah d'uoy neht ,nairanegonon a si dadnarG fI
Re your comment, Donk' I think I can feel a bit of dyslexia coming on...
G'dads a bit wobbly on his pins and never seems to have come up with a treatment for his own Diabetes. There's not that many fat people in Vietnam and the diet is extremely varied, which personally I think stands you in good stead as much as anything, that's if you were planning to go on that long.
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