WINTER AND BEING SICK IN ISTANBUL 

It's winter...and it's very cold even here in Istanbul. 

And if you are living in older houses (like us) like 40-45-60 old and not to mention the older ones, which are the biggest part in Istanbul, there is just no insulation on the houses. They built it with no or very small insulation, so you can heat like crazy and still freezing inside the house.

Nowadays many people are sick with a strange type of flue. Which can lasts for even a month, with coughing, weakness, sometimes fever and lot of secration, sometimes maybe pneumonia. And in this situation you have to see the doctor, because no way to recover just by your own. 

And here is the thing! One of the oddities of the Turkish health system is that if you get an appointment with your GP, 

for example, and you can't go (say you're so ill or you get hit by a car on the road or you have a funeral or whatever) you can't get another appointment for 15 days. The other oddity (let's call it that because I don't want to use stronger words than that) is that if you are so ill that you spit out your lungs the GP won't even write you out to stay at home with any sickness except in the most extreme (say dying?) case.

                                  

Imagine that, someone with the flu not sleeping all night, coughing, spitting up what needs to be spat out, not being able to eat, weakening in two days

... and going to work with it, through the freezing cold winter streets, the crazy traffic, waiting (you can't sit down, because if you're young nobody cares if you're half dead or not, you have to give up your seat) or travelling for hours to get home (Istanbul is a huge city)

...but that's the system here.

And then there is this excellent rule that those over 65 can go to the doctors on a first come first served basis. So you're sitting there waiting for your appointment (say you have to go to work afterwards because the doctor won't write you out anyway) and there's a long queue of over 65s...and you can't go in before them because the doctor shouts out every time that it's the over 65s' turn. The ones who are retired anyway...they have time to sit there, but no. And if you get bored of it...

...because the fifth or sixth over 65 has gone in before you (who are in for half an hour) you can't go home because you won't get another appointment for 15 days, so not only won't they see you if you're sick, but you won't even get a fucking pill to cure you. Now that's a wonderful system. Well man!

Obviously there's a lot of sick people over 65 and they're sitting at the doctor's and the young people who get sick, say, twice a year and have to go to work and go to university and whatnot are sitting there for hours.....

...because of this system? Well, how is that?

Whose very clever idea was that? I guess someone who goes to a private doctor or maybe has their own doctor who visits them in their own home when they are sick...because fuck, if someone who introduced this can do it without freaking out (and not being over 65) then congratulations. Shouldn't we think a little sometimes about looking at what is a priority? I'm sorry but if a 65+ is so sick that they need immediate help....

... there's the emergency room or the ER...and why can't they wait. My mother waits and my father waits (and they are over 70 and sit and wait) and it's so much better so everyone goes to the appointment they have, isn't it a much more logical and less outrageous and fairer system? I think so.