My Visit to a Bhutanese Hospital

We were scheduled to drive from Thimphu to the Punakha valley.  Again, rain. We are told this year the rains have come a month early. Everything is green as we retrace our way up what the calll the National Highway over the Dochua La and down the other side on probably the worst dirt road ever! We had to time our departure just right to made sure we could get through the opening hours because of the intense road constrction.

The vegetation changed dramatically once we left the blue pine forests of the higher elevations. The plants become increasingly tropical with prickly pear cactus and bouganveilla dotting the roadside. Rice fields, corn, chilies, beans and other vegies I'venever heard of much less eaten ( how about some Crow's Beak for example). They cook it with chilies, of course, and a type of cheese they eat in the western part of Bhutan. 

Ive had a cough and a cold that I arrived with and I finally gave up so we stopped at a Bhutanese Hospital to find a  Doctor to look in my ears. Not the most clean building Ive seen but there was lots of Purell and the nurses(all male) used it constantly which made me feel better. They also used alcohol to clean the instruments to take my temperature under the arm and to look in my ears.  That too was comforting.  As they were doing it an old man came in with Beetlenut drool running down his mouth into his neck (yuck beyond belief) who wanted some help but was shown the door.  Next door was a child screaming  after being stung by several wasps.  Signs were all over the walls about clean hands, good nursing and homilies extolling the virtues of hard work.  All in all an interesting unplanned experience.

Oh, I forgot to mention that because it was Saturday all the staff were outside cleaning and gardening. The nurse "on duty" had to call out the window a couple of times to get somebody to find the ENT technician to come and look at me.  No doctors at all on Saturday but the technician knew what an ear infection looks like and told me I had " a little bit infection in ear and vest". He scribbled out a prescription which the nurses immediately filled from the dispensary in the back room and off we went.  Free medical care for all, including tourists, and it was done in about 45 minutes.  

As we left I saw this sign....looks like there is lots of good training in Bhutan for health care which, afterll, is one of their priorities.