- Thread starter jaguar86
- Start date
Doctor Appointment question
I am referring to the actual doctors appointment, not the diagnostics. I have recently had a CT scan, MRI scan and a neuro ECG and all were on time in Puerto Plata. I have never waited longer than 15 minutes for a blood test...and you don't even have to go back to get the results, you can get them online which is excellent. Just recently, I went to see two different neurologists and both were over 4 hours late. I visit my cardiologist every 6 months and she is always several hours late. I have lived here for 21 years, longer than I have lived in any other country (England, France, Canada and Australia) and the doctors appointments have nearly always been the same no matter what clinic I go to. My close friends that have lived here as long as I have all say the same.
Yeah, dominicans are often late, and that is a challenge if you work with an appointment system, but sometimes the patient is the one who has to wait for the doctor. Many doctors work at multiple places, E.g., at a public hospital in the morning, and then a clinic in the afternoon. Some even work in the evening. Also they might work in multiple cities. I remember in my hometown there was no dermatologist so there was one who´d come twice a week. They´ll tell you she´d come at 2 but she often showed up at 3:30 and even later. What you do is you show up, take a number with the secretary, and then you might even have time to run a couple of errands in between.
My eldest daughter is at university studying to be a cardiologist...I have made her promise that she will have a much better appointment system than the existing one...oh, and that she can treat me at home so I don't have to wait for her in her clinic!!!
This is exactly what we've been doing for years. Living in POP but taking care of all medical needs we're used to being on the road an entire day, but that has never bothered as we've scheduled us accordingly. We leave the house so that we get to Santiago by 9 am, then pass by the secretary to get a number and then plan the rest of the day accordingly. If it's expected that we have to wait even until the afternoon, my wife agrees with the secretary that she'd be calling her which number is going and then we'd go take care of errands, shopping and eventually having lunch and then return to HOMS. If we're one of the first to be seen, we'd confirm at what time the doctor will be there (often they might be in an emergency surgery so no matter what their hours for walk-ins are, surgery and other emergencies take priority) and then either wait there or wait close by and then we would start our days working remotely on laptop, get some coffee from the cafe and check periodically if it's our turn... Problem solved...
And yes, I also think that Dominicans have a huge respect towards the medical staff, but so would I if they are about to do some procedure on me or even cut me open... I would never and have never acted hostile towards any medical staff in any country, nor will I ever... After all, they are who heal you or even save your life... If they're late or something, I doubt it's often because of laziness, as seeing patients is their main source of income I'd suppose...