Health

I felt a pain in my stomach one day last year.  I didn’t think it was related to digestion and I couldn’t endure the pain so I went to the emergency room with my son.  As soon as we got there, my son checked in but there were two patients before me, waiting for their turns.

While waiting my turn, I was in so much pain, so I rolled around on the floor.  My son asked them, “Can you check my dad first because he’s so sick?” but nobody came to check on me and, a few minutes later, a woman came up to us and said, “You have to wait until it’s your turn.”  I was so angry but I had no choice.  Anyway, the doctor gave me medicine saying that there was a stone in my urinary tract after finally seeing me and checking me out.  After taking a pill, the pain calmed down a little.

After experiencing an emergency room in Canada, I realized I missed the Korean medical system.  If I was in South Korea, the doctor would have already figured out my symptoms would have been done checking me out much faster.  Of course there would be some costs.

Using an emergency room in Canada is free but it takes a long time.  Using emergency rooms in Korea is costly but you can receive very fast services.  I feel that this is the biggest difference between Korea’s and Canada’s medical service systems.