In October 2007 I have a sore throat and cough, so I call the general medical centre for my part of town, according to the phone book. They confirm that they are indeed immediately responsible for my looking after my health, but unfortunately they don't have the practical capacity to accommodate me. In other words, the first autumn colds and ear drum infections have hit the local nurseries and primary schools, and the waiting room is swamped.
In the end we agree that I should try with the private medical centre that my dad goes to at his company's expense, so I call them and get an appointment for a few hours later. It's a nice clinic in a single-storey building and there is an aquarium with brightly coloured fish in the reception.
After my patient card has been checked and I have been charged ca 260 SEK, I am ushered into an examination room, where I wait for a few minutes. Then the youngish male doctor comes in and quickly listens to me. Before I can say tonsillitis, he's taken a sample from the back of my throat and run it through a machine, while doing something else somewhere in the clinic. After five minutes, he comes back and tells me it is not a bacterial infection and he can do nothing. I get the bus home again.
Visit to the doctor no 2:
Since I left Peru, I've had fever, a sore throat, headache, aching sinuses, a blocked nose etc. But I refrained from going to the doctor since all they ever do is tell me antibiotics will do nothing. On Saturday I bought some sea water hypertonic nose spray, and it did the trick, plus I don't have a fever anymore. Still, I wanted someone to listen to my breathing, just in case. I wouldn't want to give 70 wedding guests any dangerous infection on Saturday, after all.
The doctor has appointments until 5 o'clock, then it's open clinic until 20. I go early to avoid the queue, and so am called in by the doctor herself at half past four. The surgery is on the ground floor of an apartment block from the 60s/70s. There is no reception, just a waiting room with women's magazines from four years ago.
The doctor listens to all my symptoms, then examines my chest. She tells me it's nothing serious, probably a virus - there are a lot of them going around, apparently. Back at her desk, she explains me that she will give me a receipt for the €22 her expertise costs, with which I can claim back the cost of the medical visit from my local Swedish "mutuelle", i.e. the social security people. I tell her I'll try, but since Swedish people are normally made to pay over €20 for a medical visit anyway, and most of us are not entitled to reimbursement, I'll probably have a hard time. She looks at me incredulously at this revelation but admits I probably know better than her in this particular case. She then prescribes me
- a mixture of thymol, campher and eucalyptus to dissolve in boiling water and inhale
- paracetamol, although I tell her I have other painkillers at home
- a nose spray to clear my sinuses
- an anti-cough syrup
She asks me what I'm taking for the sore throat, and I tell her "tea?!", upon which she agrees that the things she has already prescribed me will probably suffice. I'm told to come back in case my symptoms worsen. No doubt, for another prescription marathon of semi-harmless drugs, so that I will feel confident she has done her job properly.
