Privilege

I am still feeling some abnormalities in my left ear from my eardrum rupture of last month. We asked around, and found a specialist recommended by some senior staff. This doctor has seen celebrities such as the former prime minister, Sheik Hasina. The office called and tried to get an appointment for me. We found that no appointment was available for at least a month. Then the office receptionist dropped that I was a foreigner, and they said to call again on Thursday to check for an opening. On Thursday as I was traveling to Dhaka, they called and said that I had a 4:00 appointment.

Our country director (Bangladeshi) had some ear problems from 2 years ago that he has never resolved. He still has not recovered his hearing, and everytime he called for an appointment the waiting time was 3-4 months.

Ethel and I went early Thursday afternoon to find the health center on Green Road. We found it and took the elevator up to the third floor. When we asked at the desk, they said we had to go acrossed the road to the chamber where he practices.

Acrossed the road we had a bit of a challenge finding the entrance to the second floor. This building didn't have an elevator, and the stairs were somewhat dirty. We walked down a narrow hall that ended with a pharmacy, large waiting room, and small office. Ethel counted 32 people sitting in the waiting room, and there were more people standing around the perimeter. It was 10 minutes before 4:00, and the doctor hadn't come from the hospital yet. We asked if we were at the right place, and the staff questioned if I was "Miss Reba." The doctor came a bit later, and immediately everyone rushed to the door of his office. A few minutes later the door opened and everyone rushed to get in, but it was my name that they called.

I went in and he started looking at my ears. I started telling him what was wrong, but he wasn't listening. Where are you from? What state? After we got my nationality out of the way he said that my left ear looked abnormal and that he was going to give me a test. He filled out some papers and I left and went to a room behind the pharmacy where I paid 300 taka. Then I went into another small room with three men. One man was a patient being tested, and the other two told him to move aside and I sat down in the patient chair that he had vacated. The one wasn't a man, he was a boy really and he was the one doing the test - which meant he stuck something in my ear and it made noises. (He was wearing jeans!) The other man was sitting at the desk pushing buttons. When the test was finished, they called in another man and he recorded the results from the test onto paper. Then I took the test results, pushed through the crowd at the door of the doctor's room, and went into see the doctor. The doctor was looking at other patients, who seemed to be in a bit of pain, but when I came he stopped his work and looked at my test results. Then he said that he wanted to do another test to check my hearing. I repeated the entire testing process again. I came back to the doctor, who again dropped everything at my appearance. He said that my hearing was fine and he gave me medicine - claritin and vitamin B to take for a month. Just as I was leaving, he wrote down his personal phone number and told me to call him if there was ever an emergency. We paid our visit fee 400 taka, and went to the pharmacy and bought a months supply of the medicine for 224 taka. (Two tests, doctor fee, and medicine was $17.50.)

Only because of my skin color did I get an appointment so soon, was the first seen by the doctor, and received optimal care. All the other millions (of middle class) wait months for an appointment, have to push their way in, and suffer in illness and discomfort far longer than they should. And the poorest of the poor live on the streets and never see a doctor, and the poor visit the doctor and are prescribed medicine but can't afford the medicine or the time off work to heal properly.