An Indian friend sent me this; if India can do it, why not the US?
I’m currently in a rural town in India.
After getting nipped by Max (a german shepherd pup), I went into a govt. hospital as urged by the vet as they handle tens of such cases everyday and have a lot of experience. Max’s not vaccinated for rabies as he’s still too young. It was a cold rainy week due to a thunderstorm. The hospital was large and very dirty looking. But other than that, what excellent service.. in the UK, you’d have to quarrel on the phone to see a doctor and still wait for hours with other patients, and he’d spend like 2 minutes literally with you before telling you he has other patients waiting. Here, I got shown to the duty doctor immediately after walking in, who behaved as if I was the 25th case to walk in with a dog bite that day (he said as much) and talked with me patiently. At first, due to the dirty buildings, I had asked the duty doctor if I should go to a private hospital (this is a tiny town, so I have no idea where that is). He said that I’d get better treatment here than any private hospital for dog bites. The duty doctor disagreed with the advice of the private GP who I had seen soon after the scratch.. the GP had advised me to wait and watch the dog for signs of rabies, whereas the duty doctor said I should get the shots right away anyway. As it was a scratch, I didn’t need any immunoglobin. The nurse gave me the first shot with more to come in the next few days, and then, after the injection: 1. The syringe needle was flash zapped by a machine and retained inside the machine, 2. Another machine broke off and retained the tip of the plastic syringe itself, 3. Another container took the rest of the syringe, 4. I got tablets in the hospital itself for the course,
5. Everything was free in the hospital. I asked to at least make a donation, but they don’t take donations as it could lead to preferential service. When I insisted, the nurse asked me to get them a new case notebook which I’ll be taking in on Saturday. As I left, I saw the duty doctor tending to another frail and old patient who was brought in lying down, with the same patience. In all, but for the general look of the buildings, I couldn’t believe the level of service, or even that this was available. All those involved, who provide this to the general public are gods.
https://www.banu.com/blog/2009/12/24/hospitality-in-india/