My Visit to Hospital
It is common to fall ill during your deployment. Within the two months in Ghana, It has happened to me twice. First I received the symptoms of a cold. I was celebrating my first week in Ashaiman with a constant runny nose and a symphony of coughing. The second was a stomach infection that took me straight to a hospital.
First Symptoms
It all started one evening when I was having dinner at home. Suddenly I didn't have any appetite. Even the simplest fried yam on my plate made me feel nauseous. I assumed I'm simply exhausted from previous days so called it for an early night. Before falling asleep I took my temperature, just out of interest. It was 37,2. "Okay, let's see what the morning brings," I said to myself and tried to fall asleep. Well, what the morning brought me was definitely not a rest. My night passed by giving multiple visits to the toilet (diarrhea - of course!), constantly adding layers to stop chills, and seeing strange dreams. Finally, around 4 AM, I decided to check again my temperature. Now it was 39,4. Wow! Definitely a sign to wake up my local housemate, and ask for help. Luckily for me, my housemate at the time was a local medical student. At first, we suspected it to be malaria and took a rapid test. It was negative. So it was up to the hospital to figure it out.
Finding the One
Unfortunately to this moment, I hadn't been introduced to hospitals or doctors in the area. But luckily EUAV's insurance CIGNA has an app, where you can check the suitable medical institutions at my location.
Again, for my luck - there were many that accepted the CIGNA in the area. The only problem was that none of them didn't want to answer the phone at 6 AM. After calling five different places we got in touch with Tema Women's Hospital and twenty minutes later I was checking myself into the place. I was lucky to have my friend accompanying me since I was too exhausted to function and explain my situation or CIGNA. Apparently, there hadn't been many patients with the named insurance so it didn't ring a bell for the morning staff. Nevertheless, they started to take care of me right away.
I was signed to a private ward. Test analysis showed, that instead of expected malaria I had a salmonella infection. And then it dawned on me. Two evenings before I ate a tiny bit of Jollof and chicken that a staff member brought me from the street. I barely ate it since the portion was too spicy for me. But apparently, I ate enough to get the bacteria.
Check-Out
I stayed in the hospital for a night. The treatment I received worked well and the next day I felt good enough to check out. I have nothing bad to say about the personnel and facility. The Doctors and nurses were professional and my room had everything I needed, and I definitely see myself going there again in the future if needed. But at the end of the day, there's no place like home.
Another reason why I was eager to get home was the food. For the meals, I was served local food. The portions were gigantic and tasty but also heavy. Since I was taken to the hospital because of bad African food, I really didn't want to eat anything local for two weeks. So everything I was served I ended up giving to my housemate, and in return, he brought me fresh fruits.
The Bill
I still don't know how much the bill for the treatment and prescribed medicine was. When I checked out I was told that the accountants will forward the bills directly to CIGNA and contact me if there will be a problem. And that was the last time I heard from them. So it means it worked.
So 10 out of 10 recommend the Tema Women's Hospital for future female volunteers in Ashaiman or Tema.
10 out of 10 do not recommend buying Jollof from the streets.
so gave it to my companion.
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