First trip to the doctor

Getting medical “care”

I had a lingering sinus infection when I arrived in Morocco last week.  I had finished one round of antibiotics before leaving home, but the infection returned when the medicine was done.  

One of my Moroccan work colleagues was concerned for me and volunteered to help find a doctor who could assist me getting over the sinus problem.  My friend is not from Marrakech, but he knew someone who would make a referral to a good doc.

My first inkling of something out of the ordinary came when he texted me the doctors name and address the night before the appointment.  On the internet, I read it that he was a doctor of dermatology and venereology.  It seemed a bit odd to go to a dermatologist for a sinus infection and I had never heard of venereology before (look it up), but my friend had gone to the trouble of making the appointment so I figured it should be fine.

I arrived at the doctors office and found the lobby covered with tarps and two painters were working on the walls.  I sat down as the only non-painter in the room and waited.  After a few minutes, another painter came out to the waiting room... and he was the doctor.  He took me outside and we tried to converse.  I had memorized a few medical phrases of my symptoms in French and he knew absolutely no English.  After he tried to tell me that he treated the skin (using hand motions), he referred me (I think?) to a doctors office in the same building one flight down.

I went to the downstairs office and recognized the doctors name I had been given.  It turns that the dermatologist had referred me to a women’s clinic.  I quickly backed out and made my way to the street again.

I spotted a nearby pharmacy and went in to ask them for the Augmentin antibiotic that I’ve taken regularly for sinus infections over the past many years.  The good news for me is that no prescriptions are required for most medications in Morocco.  My adventurous trip to the doctor ended up just I had hoped it would- medicine in hand. 

After five days of treatment now, I feel much better and I’ve learned a lesson about navigating the health care system here.  I really need to learn French too!

Actually, I now have a name on an excellent English-speaking doctor when the need arises again (and not a venereologist!)