For Goodness Sakes!

Just finished my PRIVATE clinic and am fuming over a conversation that I just had with a patient whom I am sure I will feel pretty sorry for when I calm down later. This patient was started on a really expensive drug and after the first cycle (that she had been administered at the end of August) started complaining about the cost of the drug. She came to see me because apparently the consultant told her that I was able to strike a deal with her. What I found incredulous was that she did not know how much the entire chemotherapy was going to cost her. After explaining the function of each drug that she had been prescribed and telling her that we were not the right people to request for a discount (pointed her towards the management...but somehow her compass kept coming back to me), she still hung around...unhappy that I had not reduced the price of her chemotherapy this time around. I finally politely smiled at her and told her that pharmacy's charge was not the only 'big' amount on her bill and how about going back to her consultant and asking for a discount? She smiled sheepishly.

I guess that I am fuming because I have so many poor patients in the government sector scrapping together everything that they have for a shot at sometimes not a cure but a better quality of life. The cost of chemotherapy drugs are already sky high. Imagine adding on percentages so that an acceptable profit can be made. Anyone who can afford to pay for that extra comfy bed, more personal attention, ala carte food and a better air-con unit...by all means...I don't have any bones to pick with you. But for those who can't afford and still want those extras...then I have only one thing to say: there are more important things here to consider. But most of the time, the patients are not at fault...they simply don't know their 'alternatives'. And why don't they know these 'alternatives'? Well...I am just a lowly pharmacist...but I can very well venture a guess. Good night, I am heading back to sleep this off. I no longer feel angry...sadness and disappointment have taken over.