«Horror clinics». 122 phone calls in one day [LETTER OF READERS]

A letter came to our editorial office from a reader who tried to arrange a blood count in one of the Polish clinics. Within just over an hour, the woman had to make 122 calls to the facility. The number was busy or someone was hanging up the phone.

1. The MedTvoiLokony reader decided to share her experiences with the Polish health care system. She wanted blood tests, she had a referral
2. – I keep reading about “horror receipts”. I think it’s time for “horror clinics”, because I do not believe that it only happens to me – writes our reader
3. We publish her letter below
4. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

122 phone calls to the clinic. Within an hour. «Horror clinics»

In fact, in every article on MedTvoiLokony, I read that it is always best to see a doctor if anything worries me. And that Polish women do not get tested, and therefore we do not diagnose our diseases early enough and we die of breast cancer or other cancers.

And I agree with all of this, so now I want to make up for the time lost by the pandemic. Earlier, I had breast cytology and ultrasound every year, I tested blood and urine, I also had an ultrasound of the abdomen. I was fairly able to say that I knew what was going on in my body and that it was okay. During teleportation and lockdown, prevention was the last thing you could do. I heard all over the place telling me to stay home. So I stayed, hoping that cancer or other stuff would wait.

Lockdowns are over so far, so I finally remembered about myself. And here – a great staircase. It’s not that people don’t test themselves because they don’t want to. Because even if they want, it is a great way through the torment. I guess I forgot about it during these 1,5 years without contact with doctors. 122 calls – I’ve called the clinic so many times today. I keep reading about “horror receipts”. I think it’s time for “horror clinics”, because I cannot believe that it only happens to me.

The rest of the text is below the video.

On-hook, busy, temporarily unavailable

Two weeks earlier, I had made an appointment with a general practitioner for teleportation. I immediately said that I hadn’t done any research for almost two years and I would like to have a “review”. I asked for a referral to a morphology, urine test and referral to an ENT specialist. I had to argue with each of these requests. The mere fact that I hadn’t tested myself in so many months was not a reason to send me to the most basic research. If I had not been determined, at this stage I would have said “ah, no grace”. And she gave up diagnostics, like many other Poles who do not go to the doctors because they do not have the strength to deal with it all.

1. Check also: “We pay horror receipts in pharmacies every month” [LETTER TO THE EDITOR]

In the end, I “tricked out” the referrals. First, blood counts and blood tests. And what turns out? No, I can’t come to the clinic the next morning, because our laboratory works only two days a week. And to be able to stand in line, you have to sign up the day before. Thus, my basic diagnostics had to wait another five days. Finally, it was Monday, the day I was supposed to sign up for the morphology. 7.00 a.m., I call the clinic. Busy. I am calling the second, third and fifth time – the same. Telephone number six – there is a signal! Only someone picks up the handset and hangs it up right away. Telephone number seven – subscriber temporarily unavailable.

Connection # 122: “Well, you were lucky!”

Here one might think that maybe they need to call back later. Not at 7 o’clock, but at 11 o’clock, for example. When this frenzy calms down. But it means that this someone knows little about the Polish health service. If you call the clinic at 11am, you will only hear “too late”. There are no internist numbers, no pediatrician, “please call us tomorrow”. And tomorrow it will be exactly the same.

Well, I keep hitting on now that I’ve already started. It’s already well after 8, and I am calling almost non-stop. Busy? I hang up and dial the number again. 121 calls. Telephone number 122. Someone picks up the phone. A moment of silence and I think she will throw it again, but no. However, there is a man there. I say what I call and hear: «Well, you were lucky! I have the last place for tomorrow’s morphology! ». The last one. Place.

So far I am agitated. Because I got stuck. Well, I had to work at 10, so I could hang with the phone to my ear for over an hour, all the time dialing the clinic’s number. But how is an elderly sick person to make an appointment for medical examinations? Or, I don’t know, a single mother with a baby in her arms? Making an appointment with a doctor today is like winning the lottery. Only for the chosen ones. So research yourself, nation. Early diagnosis saves lives!

Also read:

1. Clear urine – what can it mean?
2. Atypical symptoms of breast cancer. The oncologist advises what to look for
3. Forgotten diseases return. WHO is alarming
4. Stress has no mercy. It leads to faster wear of the organs

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