I met Vardan and his mom Seda again at the hospital today. They told me that at different occasions over the past six months or so, they both had their blood tested and their bloodgroup determined. Apparently, both times Seda had her blood tested, she had a different bloodgroup. It doesn't stop there: The three times Vardan had his blood tested, each time he apparently had a different bloodgroup, one of them a bloodgroup that would have been genetically impossible considering the bloodgroups of his parents. This is a medical miracle indeed! A bloodgroup is not ever supposed to change. Not ever. A person has the same bloodgroup from the day he is born until his very last breath.
Over the years, I have heard many stories about the healthcare system in this country, but this is a definite low, no matter how many stories I have heard about people paying a bribe or being sent from one office to another and from one hospital to another. This is a definite low. This is happening in a country that still prides itself in having a relatively well-educated work force. This is not about poverty or about badly educated employees or lack of equipment. This is about pure negligence, sloppiness and carelessness, that could possibly put someone's life in danger. Words just fail me....
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
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3 comments:
Perhaps this stems from the "Yes geedem, yes geedem!" attitude that is prevalent in Armenia--so damaging and so crippling.
Dear N.N.,
This is simply so tragic. Just imagining making such mistakes at a hospital is outrageous. It is not as if bloodgroup tests are difficult. I remember doing them myself in biology class in highschool. So, if a completely uninterested highschool student can get it right, why cannot an Armenian hospital?
Yours,
Vilhelm
I know, Vilhelm. That is exactly why this particular incident ranks pretty much at the top of the list of every horrible thing I have heard about the Armenian healthcare system. I have heard some things that in itself are more serious than this. But this is a reltively easy, routine procedure, which these particular hospitals involved should have no problem in performing, personnel-wise or equipment-wise. Still they manage to screw up, intentionally or not. In a way, it stands for everything the Armenian healthcare system is about, or not about.
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