Going to the Doctor :(

It’s bound to happen sooner or later, especially for those of us spending most of our days couped up in a room full of snotty nosed kiddies 

Im talking about getting sick…Luckily, well not so luck for me, I have some experience with going to the doctor here in Korea. And its the most painless (well depending on how sick you are) experience I’ve had to deal with so far.
The hardest part is actually getting your co-teacher to take you to the doctor (well here they have ‘Hospitals’ which are like docotors rooms back home in South Africa).

The most important thing that you need to remember, no matter how sick you are, is your Medical Aid card! Without which, you can’t get no pills!

Once you have filled in some paperwork (hopefully you will have a Korean friend/co worker to help you with this) you will get called into to see the doctor, who can usually at least understand a bit of English to help diagnose you.

Then its back to reception to pay your consultation fee~ W3 500 (I have been twice and it has never ever been more than this!! In South Africa the consultation costs at least R400, about W30 000). Then its downstairs to the pharmacy to get your pills (usually the docotrs rooms are loctaed above a pharmacy so its easy peasy). Then you will have to pay one more time ~ W2 700 for me (crazy cheap) and there you go!

So the next time you’re feeling slightly under the weather, don’t worry about how expensive it might be or whether or not you really need to be take to the ‘Hospital’ (which is actually the normal Doctor’s rooms), go! Get some pills and get better