About 10 years ago I had a Pulmonary Embolism which is when a blood clot hits your lung and is commonly known as the widow maker. Obviously I survived after this incident as I had no idea why I was coughing up blood and got lucky.
These days I have blood tests taken every 6 months and is a good habit I stick to because rather be safe than sorry and is a way of preventive medicine. You always hear about the sad stories when there has been no early detection and the damage is already done and too late to help the patient. People having heart attacks not knowing their cholesterol levels are too high and they need medication when the regular blood tests would reveal this and help you live a normal life. Many cancers can be stopped in their tracks if you catch it early and one just never knows what the future holds so testing regularly gives you a better fighting chance.
I think having blood tests regularly also depends on where you live and how you think as an individual. I phoned on Monday to make an appointment with my doctor and had my tests on Tuesday and today being Thursday have seen my doctor and discussed the test results. All is good and I am good for another 6 months which is really good news.
My brother on the other hand lives in the UK and only goes to the doctor when he thinks there could be a problem which is not preventive medicine and is literally quite the opposite. I am not sure what the waiting times are like for GP's these days in the UK but knew someone who had to wait for 5 weeks for a hospital bed to have a gall bladder removed. This was at the exact same time as I had my gall bladder operation and mine was done the same week in a matter of days. This is the difference between using the NHS and private medical as more often than not when you need to see a doctor urgently it is best to pay.
This brings me onto the topic of South Africa trying to disband the private medical schemes, but those paying for private medical will "somehow" be forced to continue paying their contributions to help subsidies the proposed National Healthcare. The worrying part is the country cannot afford this and the services will drop to levels never seen before. The general public opinion is this is being introduced more for corruption purposes than thinking of the good for the people.
Medical aid or private medical benefits will shrink over time and is expected to take about 15 years to come into full effect. Thankfully my entire family will be living somewhere else by then enjoying private medical cover. In South Africa it is always up to the 10% to pay for the remaining 90% and this is just another way of the government manipulating the system to cover the rest of the population.
This topic was discussed with my GP today as the though of selling the practice has been very much on her mind and doing something else maybe elsewhere overseas. This coming from a brain surgeon who then became a normal GP due to the crazy hours not mixing with the needs of her family. This for her is not about the money, but more so working for the government and not for herself. Her practice would be paid for by the government and she will be dictated to by their terms.
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