My wife Farida, our daughter Portia, and her husband Chito, an interventional cardiologist in Elkhart Indiana, near Notre Dame in South Bend, and I just returned from our 12-day cruise in South Africa with a 2-day pre-cruise Cape Town city tour and The Big-Five Aquila Safari Tour.
The healthcare system in Cape Town, capital of South Africa, which is 8,487 miles (18-hour flight) from Chicago, is a 2-tiered system, with public and private sectors. About “71 percent (majority) relies on public sector, which is underfunded and often with poor management.” Public hospitals are “overcrowded and understaffed, but professionals are generally highly qualified.” Delays in service even in private hospitals are very common, according to patients we met.
For an acute dislocated shoulder, for instance, at the emergency room (ER) in the Christian Barnard Hospital in Cape Town, the wait for every step, from registration and to each procedure that followed (waiting to be seen by the ER physician), the shoulder Xray (pre and post reduction) have long delay intervals between each. This visit took about 4 hours from registration in the ER to discharge, almost twice longer compared to most ERs in the United States.
The medical reports, laboratory, and X-rays findings were not printed and given to the patient. The patient has to email the hospital for them, and the arrival could take more than 2 weeks. The medical reports requested by email on November 28, 2024, had not arrived as of December 10, 2024. This delays the filing of the claims in the U.S. with the travel insurance and Medicare/BC-BS.
While our U.S. healthcare system is not perfect and needs some improvement, we should be thankful for the more efficient, patient-friendly and superior system we have today.
Tips for travelers
The first tip is to make a check list of all the items you will need in your travel, especially abroad. Top of your list: valid passport and photocopy of it (in case it is lost), visa (if needed), driver’s license, TSA/Global Entry cards, travel insurance, medications and supplements you take, drugs for traveler’s diarrhea (Imodium/Lomotil, antibiotic Cipro), pain/fever pills, tiny plastic zip-lock bags for daily meds, water bottle with a filter, your CPAP machine, accessories, and extension cord if you have sleep apnea, BP and blood sugar monitors if you use them, cell phone and selfie stick, charger cord with wall adapter, a tiny external battery phone charger, audio-earbuds or headset.
You might also need a small flashlight, a tiny compass, KN95 masks, hand sanitizer, hats with chin cord, dark glasses, eye shade (mask) for sleep; an electric multi (prong) universal adapter/voltage regulator compatible with cities to be visited, skin moisturizer, comfortable walking shoes, a heavy jacket for wintery countries, international e-sim card to avoid roaming fees, wind-proof umbrella, TSA approved luggage lock, sunscreen, mosquito repellent wristband, attires according to the weather in the destination cities, a backpack if desired, a jacket or vest with lots of pockets, an extra collapsible carry-on bag, added padlock and luggage tags, grocery plastic bags for dirty, wet shoes, etc. Double label all your luggage.
Added tips: Be conscious of your environments, be careful with your passport and wallet, avoid eating street foods and drink only bottled water. Designate a meeting place (police station, a church, a specific store, etc.) where family members would meet in case of separation. Do not accept offers for bargain products or rides from strangers. Pay with Samsung Pay or iPhone pay, instead of handing your credit card to vendors abroad. Pay with cash if possible. Do not bring your debit card. This is a fast source of cash for scammers.
Marijuana dangers
In the United States alone, there are almost 62 million marijuana (cannabis) users, with about 18 million of them having symptoms of cannabis disorder. Israel has the greatest number of cannabis consumers, in ratio to its almost 9.5 million population. In the Philippines, the conservative estimate is around 1.8 million users out of its 112 million people.
A recent study in the University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, reported that “cannabis use may lead to thinning of the cerebral cortex in adolescents.” The multilevel study demonstrated that this thinning “makes it harder for the brain to learn new things, interact with people, cope with situations, etc.” The research was published October 9, 2024, in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Recreational dope
There are 38 of 50 States in the U.S. where marijuana is approved for medical use, starting with California in 1996. As of November 2024, 24 states have approved recreational marijuana.
Why legislators approved the use of marijuana as recreational drugs is mind-boggling. Are they investors in the cannabis business?
Society is yet to recover from the devastating effects of tobacco as a recreational drug. Alcohol is also damaging to those who indulge in them. Recent studies show that “no amount of alcohol intake is safe.”
When problems to health or destruction of society due to these recreational substances occur (which is 100 percent a certainty), these same legislators will appear to be wondering why, and scramble to legislate new laws to curtail them, and minimize the vast Medicare expenses and money wasted from the negative health effects of the problems they created.
Why help create problems and then try to find means to solve them? Aren’t leaders supposed to lead with courage and wisdom and not be led by future addicts and greedy business entrepreneurs?
Cost of AUD
CDC reports that 95,000 people “die from alcohol-related causes every year.” Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and its complications on the body (liver, brain, heart, etc.) cost around $26 billion a year, and the total cost to U.S. economy overall is around $249 billion.
Let us not destroy our wonderful people and our great nation.
* * *
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
* * *
Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, Health Advocate, medical missionary, newspaper columnist, and chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian foundation in the United States. He was a recipient of the Indiana Sagamore of the Wabash Award in 1995, presented by then Indiana Governor, U.S. senator, and later a presidential candidate, Evan Bayh. Other Sagamore past awardees include President Harry S. Truman, President George HW Bush, Muhammad Ali, Astronaut Gus Grissom, scientists, and educators (source: Wikipedia). Website: Today.SPSAtoday.com; Amazon.com (Where is My America?”); Email: [email protected].
