With a grandson in the hospital in America right now, we are thinking contrasts in medical care.  

The saying among missionaries is that if you have to be hospitalized while in Cameroon, get yourself quickly back to the U.S.  If you are too sick to get the the States, then go to Europe post haste.  If you are too sick to get to Europe, and you might die if you don't get to a hospital ASAP, dying is not a bad option!  (And if you have ever been hospitalized here in Cameroon, that saying takes on new meaning.)

If you want to have a sheet on your hospital bed, you will need to take that with you.  You may or may not be provided with something that is loosely referred to as a "pillow".  Want to drink any water while in the hospital?  Better bring that with you, too.  Think you might be well enough to want to eat something?  Your only option is to bring food with you.  And by all means, DO NOT GO TO THE HOSPITAL WITHOUT A FAMILY MEMBER.  Someone will need to stay by your side in the hospital at all times to take care of various and sundry needs.  And to protect you from anything bad happening to you.  Like an IV being put in your arm without bleeding all the air bubbles out first.  A large enough air bubble in an IV tube can hasten your demise.  There are a whole host of other things you will want to be protected from.  In addition, your family member will be the one going to the hospital pharmacy to buy whatever medication or medical supplies that the doctor requires.  In other words, if you need that IV we were talking about, your person has to buy it and bring it to the nurse.  Sometimes it is possible to purchase medical supplies or medication direct from the nurses.  In this case, they are selling you items that have been donated by Western pharmaceuticals for use in poor countries.  The intention was that poor people would not have to pay for said donated items.  The practice is quite different. 

All in all, our grandson is so very, very blessed to have been born in the Land of Plenty to parents who love him dearly, and are able to provide him with the finest of medical care.  Had he been the son of a subsistence farmer in Eyene, for example, he would already be in Heaven.