Rendezvous with Medics!

India mein fokat ki advice bahut milti hai…

Punch line of an Indian commercial, but perfect for Indians too. Specially when somebody is ill, anybody who visits you will show his care by giving his own formulation (“Nuskha” ). Some days ago I had caught cough and cold, and the shower of advices started. Every time I called somebody I was suggested a new recipe as a medication. Since I am in Munich and no “desi” medicines are available I called one of my friend to bring some medicine for me. She suggested me a new “Aayurvedic” medicine, cause as per her, the one I wanted has Alcohol in it and didn’t taste as good.

Then some friends who didn’t have recipes, but had loads of advices, suggested me to go to the doctor. I believe my trip to doctor earned them some commission too cause they also suggested which doctor to visit.

After much coaxing I took the said doctor’s appointment and reached there 10 minutes late. I was hoping I didn’t miss my turn but ended up in the queue when I reached there. I was wondering how typical doctors are no matter where you are, India or Germany. Visiting them is like going on a pilgrimage. And then you wait in a long queue patiently for your turn, and pay donation once the doctor has given you there holy company. Aren’t these weird coincidences. Suddenly one sound interrupted my conspiracy theory to be, I had been called. I went in and as usual lots of questions were asked. Why? How? When? Then a thorough introspection of my lungs and throat was done and I was informed that I am suffering from viral. OK. Glad to hear that.

At the end of this session a prescription was given to me (Parshaad!! Do you also see this pattern?). I noticed there was only one medicine with a dosage of 750mg. Only one medicine!! In India, the doctors get emotional when they get the slightest whiff of a Viral. They will give you dozen odd medicine. It almost seems like they are doing a field test. If one won’t work then second one definitely will.

Well, I moved towards Apotheke (German for Pharmacy) and asked for the medicine prescribed to me. Shopkeeper gave me a packet after ransacking the store. Which made me feel good inside that may be some heavy dose has been prescribed to me. I peeped into the packet and was about to faint when I saw the size of tablet. It was huge by all acceptable standards. They make these tablets for human? When I reached home I realized that I had forgotten to ask the instructions for taking the tablet. Left with no resort I decided to have it in Indian style ( one tablet every time after breakfast, lunch and dinner). The real shocker came when I opened the packet. I could not trust my eyes, for I was given as treatment of my Viral, a Very high dosage of Strepsils!! Yes!! Strepsils were medically prescribed to me for a Viral. And it doesn’t end there, I had to shell out around 600 bucks for those lame Strepsils and some stupid medicated napkins. Great !!!

When I had asked for a cough syrup from a pharmacy before consulting the doctor, the pharmacist denied to give it without any prescription. And when I finally did get the prescription, I got something totally useless. And on a passing thought all those medicines in pharmacy were there for just window shopping? I wonder how these people run their business. In India when you go to some pharmacy the shopkeeper gives you two more medicines of his choice along with the ones prescribed. And if you get little too friendly, he might as well claim the doctor fake and prescribe his own medicines.

Finally, I had to go back to my own old recipe. And guess what, it worked!! I personally go for alternative medicine. I don’t often got recommending it to everyone because of how they’ve been with me, but it is actually faster acting an safer. Saves you a lot of hassle as well. If you would like to check it out for yourself you can click here for alternative meds.