Demam boleh makin demam.

In Egypt, there isn't really a GP system in place. So since Kadir has had a high temperature for the fifth day today, I thought seeing a doctor in a hospital for some reassurance would be wise (not that he has the other symptoms of Kawasaki disease, but one of its features is fever of 5 days or more), despite Kadir's reluctance to go. At the end of the visit, baru saya faham kenapa Kadir tanak pergi.

The hospital looked okay inside, despite having to climb three flights of stairs to the outpatients' department/section. After registering and paying 20LE, we waited while the guy who registered us (some kind of medical assistant possibly?) smoked sesuka hati and his fumes swirled into our faces. I feel nauseous already seeing hospital staff smoke inside the allocated smoking area outside the hospital's back door in Preston, but smoking in an air-conditioned hospital room in the presence of sick people is outrageous! But I persisted.

The doctor we saw was a 50-ish guy with a stethoscope hanging from his neck.

"What is your name?"
"Tengku Abdul Kadir."
"What is your complaint?"
"I've had fever for five days, with sore throat, runny nose and cough."
The doctor just nods and asks no further questions.
"Get on the bed."
The doctor touches Kadir's abdomen (inadequately) in three places and listens to his chest in two places on the left side only (considering Kadir's complaining of a cough, I though he'd at least make an effort to listen on both sides of the chest). The doctor then picks up a thermometer which has been lying in a bottle of yellow liquid (dilute iodine perhaps?) and with me praying he wouldn't put it into Kadir's mouth (who knows where that thermometer has been before?!), the doctor sticks it into Kadir's mouth. My God, people have been using the types of thermometer with disposable coverings for ages and he uses the same thermometer in various people's mouths (hopefully mouths only!).

But the most daft thing comes after that. While he writes things on a sheet of paper, Kadir asks, "Is it just normal flu?"
Doctor yang bijaksana itu pun menjawab, "Yes, just normal flu, not pig or anything." Brilliant, boleh exclude H1N1 (with conviction) without asking any further questions or doing a swab. Doctor bijak itu kemudiannya menasihati tiga perkara (while looking at me as well, expecting me to help out I guess). "This condition, 39.5 degrees Celcius, you must...
1. Complete rest in bed (I'm sure you should encourage a bit of mobility - even my mom knows that!)
2. Cold fermentation, by which he means soaking a handkerchief in a bowl of iced water and putting it on the forehead. [Now, listen here, doctor. As far as I am concerned, NICE (which bases its guidance on evidence) does not even recommend tepid sponging, apatah lagi ice cold water! And FYI, the BNF clearly states that iced water should not be used.]
3. Diet. Do not eat anything today while you still have a high temperature. Drink only hot drinks like peppermint tea. After the temperature has come down, then eat only boiled vegetables like potato. After that, slowly eat other food. (Let's see. Kadir has had a high temperature for five days now. So if we followed this advice since the beginning of the temperature, it would be five days of no food. Kadir would probably die of starvation rather than anything else. I'm sure my brother Boy yang bodoh tu pun tau yang tak sihat kena makan even kalau takde appetite as your body needs nutrition to help fight the infection and for recovery.)

And then, lo and behold, despite agreeing that it's just normal flu, doctor yang bijaksana itupun prescribe antibiotics for a viral illness! Oh bijak sungguh. GPs in the UK have been criticised for prescribing antibiotics to kids when the parents demand it in viral illnesses. Ini takde sapa2 push pun, dia sesuka hati prescribe antibiotics. Maybe to make money from the medicines we have to get from their pharmacy.

Now I have met some crappy doctors (like the GP in Colne) but never have I seen a doctor of that age so lacking in history, examination and reasoning like him (I am not even gonna mention communication skills!). A friend of mine once said, "Doktor2 Arab ni pandai, and dia nak cerita semua yang dia tahu" when I complained about one of their orthopaedics surgeons who gave a 2 1/2 hour revision lecture. Trust me, orthopaedics consultants omputih pun tahu sangat banyak benda, but that doesn't mean they have to burden undergraduate medical students with all the knowledge they gained during their years of training in orthopaedics. It's just irrelevant. Anyway, considering my friend said doktor2 Arab ni pandai, I was appalled to see this doctor who in my humble POV, my minuscule knowledge of medicine pun could identify that he was a bit incompetent.

God help us all!