Huge Bills

A man was checked in at our hospital with gastrointestinal problems and stayed for 5 days. I come in on the fifth and final day and am given the task of checking him out. He is finally going home. There is much joy and expectation from his wife and himself.

I sit myself down, grab a pencil and a calculator and begin the tedious and meticulous task of figuring out the bill. 5 days is a lot of days to be attended to in the ward. This means 3 meals each day for husband and wife, adding up the liters of IV fluids, ampules of medication, the syringes that correspond to each application, the number of doctor visits, blood glucose tests, other external lab tests, etc. For a regular one-night stay the numbers are already daunting. Imagine 5! I dutifully punch in the numbers, erasing sometimes and starting again when needed. After what seems like hours I finally have a final sum of Gs. 1.450.000 to be billed to the patient. My hands feel sweaty because I now need to give this bill to the patient - and the number makes me nervous. In Paraguay, minimum wage is Gs. 1.890.000. (approximately $400 US dollars). This man is going to receive a bill for almost his entire monthly paycheck.

What I didn´t mention before is that this man was once diagnosed with Leprosy. At our hospital anyone who has been diagnosed with Leprosy receives free care for any conditions related to the disease. Many people affected by Leprosy take strong medications similar to a chemotherapy combo. These meds irritate the gastrointestinal system and this is how our patient came to be check-in at the hospital. As an institution we are grateful to many NGOs that make it possible for us to be able to offer free care to our special patients. Because without this free care they surely would not seek out the treatments they need.

The man´s wife takes the bill to the Administration and returns to me with the receipt. She has tears in her eyes. This is not the first time she has had to go to the Administration to settle a bill. She knows that once she gets to the cashier´s window the accountant will quote the figure to her and remind her that she owes nothing. Others have paid for her husband. It is all free. She puts her hand on my arm and whispers her thanks.

        "Thank you for taking care of my husband. There is no other place like this hospital. You truly 
          care for us. Thank you! God bless you!"

There are no words to describe the feeling you get when you realize you are a part of something that´s huge. You are a tangible part of change in this world. It´s been 5 years and 4 months at this hospital and my everyday encounters with these Special People still give me goosebumps.

It´s just that great.