In Reply to: Shock treatment at BIMC.It works! posted by hanoman on Saturday, 12. December 2009 at 16:38 Bali Time:
how much it costs?
i was unlucky enough to get malaria a few years ago just before bomb 1. i was admitted to BIMC when it was in the old location and i could not complain about the care i received at all. unfortunately, they were not able to diagnose what was wrong with me and my platelets were dropping REALLY low, so i was MedEvac'd out to Perth.
what a shock that was.
i was loaded up into an ambulance and the doctor who flew with me was abused by the macho female ambulance staff. once inside the doors of the hospital, the doctor was just told 'you can go now'. not even an offer of a coffee!
i was dumped in the emergency room of a large public hospital and noticed that there was blood on the walls, and there were fights in the room adjacent to mine.
the doctor was rough with me when he was trying to draw blood (i was dehydrated after the flight, as with malaria you have an insatiable thirst).
soon after, i was wheeled down into a waiting room kind of area where people wait to be admitted. the doctor in that room came up to me and said 'youre not THAT sick - i dont know why you are in hospital at all'. (looking at it from my eyes, i just wanted to die).
i was wheeled into a room at 5am and just as they were about to plug me in, i was whisked out and told that i had to be in isolation as the hospitals in Bali were said to have golden staph (which is really funny as my cousin got golden staph from that very hospital a few years earlier).
one day i was in the bathroom as i wanted to take a shower. i was having trouble getting the drip through my clothing so i pressed the buzzer to get some help. well that didnt happen, so i figured it out for myself in the end. after 2 hours, a nurse came in and said 'god, what did you do? you must have knocked the buzzer in the bathroom as its been going off for over an hour now'. well...HELLO!
after 4 nights in hospital with no diagnosis, i was discharged and went home to recuperate.
since that bout of malaria, i have had 3 further bouts, all in Thailand. each time i have been admitted to Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok, and i cannot fault the treatment i received.
so, to summarise, if i had to choose between being in BIMC and being in a filthy Australian hospital, i know where i would rather be!
of course, my experience may be a one off, but it IS my experience, and the rudeness of the staff in that hospital will be remembered for a long time to come.