Keeping Well
The evening rain showers and occasional cold temperatures finally caught up with me when I (Manvi) fell sick Wednesday morning! I found to my surprise that I woke up with a terrible sore throat, a relentless cough, and a massive headache. Lozenges and tylenol just weren’t doing it. We realized quickly that our next step was to go find a doctor to get a sense of what was really going on with me.
Access to healthcare is not only highly privatized in Mexico City, but REALLY cheap. To get a doctor’s consultation, you only have to go so far as your local “Farmacias Similares”, a pharmacy chain in Mexico, similar to CVS or Rite-Aid in the US. What’s interesting is that right next to the checkout counter of the drug store is a doctor’s office. A doctor will receive you anytime from 7am – 8pm on weekdays for check-ups costing only 25 pesos per visit, that’s less than $2 USD! The doctor will perform an analysis of your symptoms and prescribe medicines that you can buy right next-door at the pharmacy. Our immediate reaction of course was that this was a pretty cool business model – a one-stop shop to recovery!
When I got sick that morning, one of our apartment mates told us specifically not to go through the trouble of getting to a hospital. Instead he told us to walk 10 min to the Farmacias Similares. The doctor took a look at my throat and diagnosed my condition as a bacterial infection. He recommended three medicines –antibiotic injections (which I had to take for six days, ouch!), a cough syrup, and anti-inflammatory pills for my throat – all costing me less than $15 USD! I felt almost instant relief after my first dose of meds but unfortunately because of the recovery process, most of our Wednesday work plans fell through.
We learned that day that some times you just have to bring it down a notch…
