Getting Sick in Korea

In early April I got sick. It started out as a cold and ended up as bronchitis. I just wanted to mention it because of the stark differences in health care in Korea and the U.S. At first when I got sick, I thought it was just a cold and that I would get over it in a couple days. As anyone who has worked with kids would know, they are germy little things and you can't help but catch things from them from time to time. In Korea the first thing you do when you're feeling sick is go to the pharmacy. It's the same as in Kenya. You go to the pharmacy, explain your symptoms, and they can give you some medication right there. It's a nice way to skip the high price usually charged by doctors (back home).

The second time after I went to the pharmacy and explained that things still weren't better, and I had an intense pressure in my entire face, the lady's response was "go see a doctor". First, I have to say that I'm lucky in that there is a private women's hospital literally on the same street as my school. It was one of my busy days at school; I don't get any breaks after lunch except for one 20 minute break. I decided to go during lunch, and see if I could see a doctor in that hour slot. Everyone at the hospital was very nice, the doctor spoke a lot of English. I was in and out in under 40 minutes. The total cost without insurance: $13. My first prescription: $7. I ended up going back to the doctor twice more, but each follow-up visit only cost $9 each. The most expensive of the three prescriptions was the one when they finally gave me antibiotics which turned out to be a whooping $17.

I want to show you a picture of the way the give prescriptions here because I thought it was cool.

The pills are in their own little sealed compartments. They even wrote "M" "L" "D" so I know what meal to take each little pack with. (I think the dinner one had an extra something that might make you drowsy, hence why it's different)

Sometimes I really love Korea. On another fun Korea services note, tonight I got a new pair of glasses. I heard that they were cheaper here, and I haven't gotten a new pair in maybe five years. I went in, picked out the frames, and they checked my eyes free of charge. They assembled my new glasses in 15 minutes, the cost: $58. They even had glasses as cheap as $25 a pair. Part of me wants to stock up, but I know that's unresonable and just my bargain hunter-self catching the wind of a great deal. If you go to Korea though, I highly recommend getting some glasses. Although it's cheap, I can't really recommend getting sick...