Chong Hua cost and my visit

[Jollygoodfellow]

Today I was with my Filipina friend and she had a bad ear ache causing problems right through to her jaw so I thought something had to be done about that so convinced her to go to the Chong Hua with me which is not far away.

We get there and find it's a confusing place and very busy, she asks someone behind the desk but had trouble hearing him so told him to tell me.

Took a bit to understand what he was telling me but yes a shuttle outside takes you down the road to some other place with doctors. So we get in, bit like a jeepney and 3 peso each. Of course I bump my head getting in but after a bumpy ride we arrive and go inside.

I recall the guy said room 405 but where the hell is that so I Figured about 4th floor and spot on but there is 405a and many others. People are in the corridor and trying to figure out what to do was puzzling but reading the doors like gynecologist or pediatrician I new was not for us so my friend asked someone and we go into a room full of people.

She fills out some form and we wait about 2 hours for our turn and go in to see the doc.

He seemed quite knowledgeable and used a machine to suck out the ear and wrote a script and then on this tiny piece a paper the bill.

P800 for our visit. Seems the doc makes up the price however he wants so yes I pay and we go to the pharmacy, drops and antibacterial tablets just under a P1000 and yes l pay.

Anyway hopefully she will be fine soon but my point of posting this is how do the average people manage to pay these sort of costs ?

[robert k]

I think they don't. I think they buy 100 peso worth of hydrogen peroxide. Who knows, maybe someone pours a shot of Tanduay in their ear and they rinse it out after awhile. I would be giving it a shot first not to avaoid the cost but the office visit.

[davewe]

50 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

P800 for our visit. Seems the doc makes up the price however he wants so yes I pay and we go to the pharmacy, drops and antibacterial tablets just under a P1000 and yes l pay.

Anyway hopefully she will be fine soon but my point of posting this is how do the average people manage to pay these sort of costs ?

A couple random comments. First, of course, many Filipinos don't go to a doctor unless or until they have to and sometimes not even then.

Secondly, even at your price of 800P, that's the equivalent of $16 for the doctor's services. In an area outside of Cebu City it would have been cheaper. Even in Cebu City, last year I visited an ER for a badly cut finger. Cost for seeing a doctor, getting bandaged up and a tetanus shot was under 500p. Quite possibly they viewed you as a richer foreigner than me 

The last time my wife went to a doctor in Southern Cebu where she is from, she went to the local public clinic. She had fainted and her family was worried. They checked her out and gave her fluids. Cost = 0. They had a collection box into which she threw a few pesos. So there are other options rather than a private doc.

All this being said, pharmaceuticals are a different matter. They are expensive; there's no getting around that. I too paid around 1000p for my antibiotics and pain meds last year. This makes perfect sense. Pharmaceutical companies are 1st world based. It is a big problem for Filipinos. A couple of years ago my young BIL had an eye infection. Family took him to the clinic, but they only purchased part of the full course of antibiotics. Naturally the eye infection returned - and worse. We stepped in, paid for the full course of meds and insisted the kid take every dose.

Edited October 20, 2016 by davewe

[Queenie O.]

Well JGF,

Every town has a health center that is free to local patients living in that place. Vicente Sotto Hospital in Cebu City is a government run hospital that serves patients I believe for free.  The biggest issue as has been mentioned, is the cost of many prescription meds. They are not free, and are often a hardship or impossible for many to shoulder. Sometimes I notice people standing outside a pharmacy with scrips in hand, hoping that someone might help them to pay. Even if a patient needs fluids or meds inside the hospital as a patient, those must also be purchased.

Our elderly neighbor was prescribed to take a certain blood pressure medication at the rural health center, but no assistance was forthcoming on how to pay for these. Sometimes we help as needed as you did, because when someone we know becomes sick or injured, we know that those meds are not affordable. Fortunately there are now generic pharmacies available with some cost reductions, so that helps some residents in keeping down costs for certain drugs. Another issue as an aside, I've read in Cebu Sunstar newspaper about some neighborhood pharmacies that had been selling expired prescription drugs to customers, and warned the public to check expiration dates.

In the past  Cebu City Government was partnering with PhilHealth to provide free care for some indigent patients, but I'm not sure what that intailed or how many are being served as of now. I think that there is now in place a program for diabetic patients to receive free meds if they qualify.

 

[mogo51]

My trip to the hospital several years ago in Angeles was much cheaper than that and very  successful. The place was well organised.

[frosty (chris)]

My G/F went to the doctors at a clinic adjacent to Mactan Doctors Hospital, was 300 pesos a visit, she went alone so no long nose price, most people here self medicate or just go to the pharmacy and ask there for medicines to fix whatever problem they have.

[Nephi]

Those that are able simply pay for what they want or need. Others that don't have that option will usually hock a peice of jewlery or the like for the money. Still others will beg money/borrow money from family, friends, or coworkers.

I think you probably ended up paying the "tourist price" where you went though. In our area and for a local person going for that same doctors visit, the cost would likely been around P300 plus any medications. Lousy way for doctors or anyone else to do business but like anything else here - nothing is free and places will make every attempt to bleed people dry - local of foreigner it makes no difference. Big fish feeding off the smaller ones.

[Bruce]

Out on Samar, the doc in the ER is paid by the government. Meds are extra, IF they have any. Most people are encouraged to go to a local pharmacy to buy. Issues in the past revolve around the doc having a financial interest in the pharmacy. Doc would write something that no one can read. You go to the 'wrong' pharmacy, they tell you out of stock and by reading the name of the doc, they tell you the 'correct' pharmacy to go to. Once you are there, the staff will text the doc and he will tell them the meds to dispense. The more rich that you appear, the more the meds will cost.

Even so, very reasonable compared to the US.

[sonjack2847]

Antibiotics can be bought for around 3 peso each. A few  weeks ago we paid 500 for a doctor for my daughter I cant remember how much her meds were.In Dalaguete a visit to the private would cost you 70 peso or you can go to the free clinic down by the beach which is a modern place.I have heard that the hospital you used has a good reputation.There is a free clinic on the main road in Kamputhaw which is not far from you.

[Queenie O.]

The situation in Cebu as far as self medicating has gone for infections in the past--a person can no longer go in and purchase any antibiotic without a prescription at any pharmacy. I suspect it's the same in other areas? Maybe they are now conscious of the overuse or misuse of antibiotics around the world. I noticed that the government has lowered the price of some common antibiotics though, like Zithromax to 150 pesos per dosage pack. That's about half of the going rate for a  500mg. 3-pack dosage box. I noticed that some local barangay stores  in town were selling individual penicillin capsules without a pharmacist around though. I guess that's maybe for if you had a sick pig...