Don't Rule Out the Possibility of a Wrong Diagnosis

There is a great deal of strange stories here that frequently get a mention in informal conversations.Some are just normal,by the yardstick of ,us, the ordinary people.Yet on serious thought,they are matters of life and death.It is strange, but accustomed ways of our people can be strange;what you smile about here can be something worth worrying about elsewhere.But let me tell you what I have gleaned without exactly intending to.Come with me.

George,I forget his second name,was taken ill three weeks ago.He is a terrible man who finds it difficult to return anything I have lent to him.So I jokingly felt he should die.People don't rush to the doctor here at the slightest  sign of infection.So our friend,George did not do either.He swallowed herbs ,the kind,it is believed,magics away any sort of ailment.Matters did not change.The condition changed from bad to critical.He was sweating profusely,and he got his family worried.

With no hope within sight,he decided to see a doctor. It is only fair to say doctors here do their work well since they are mostly professionals.But they are few.Thus, they are often worked hard.As it turned out,George came by  a fatigued doctor,who upon listening to his heart-beat and testing his body temperature,prescribed malaria drugs in hurry.Mark you the man had no trace of malaria in his body.So?Let's see.

George goes back home on a motorbike despite his feeling dizzy,arrives safe by providence,swallows the medicine as prescribed by the "tired" doctor and goes to bed to 'listen to himself'--in his own words.Ho!Two days elapse, and the man becomes worse by the day.What people do here in the wake of such is to "change the hospital".George does.When you "change  hospital",it means you seek out the services of a private hospital whose patient-doctor ratio is relatively good.Of course at a higher cost.To us cost is nothing especially when it is compared to "GOING UP WITH YOUR MONEY!"
"You are suffering from brucellosis...er rm...George"the stout doctor announces, looking above his glasses.
"Is it curable?"
"Yes..Why?''smiling.
'It's nothing'

Doctors are humans and so are prone to mistakes.Do not disdain the hackneyed advertisers' advice:"If the first doctor's prescription doesn't work,seek the prescription of another doctor in a hurry even if it calls for a deeper thrust into your pockets.Ooh! One thing more.Tell the other doctor what the first doctor said and what you have swallowed.Otherwise you can easily "GO UP"because of a wrong diagnosis.

This is the story George,now recovered, was telling folks the other day in my hearing,and guess what?They were all smiles at such  a life- and- death matter!I couldt help laughing either.