The horror doctor from Tangerang

Travel diarrhoea or to be more accurate diarrhoea which is caused by a fungus, virus or bacteria during travelling can be absolutely irritating. Symptoms can be more agressive in tropical countries. I was unlucky to experience about a total of 30 sessions of watery faeces. My mother became worried and suggested me to see a doctor. I wasn't too keen but finally agreed to get my blood and faeces(shit) tested in the lab.

I went to the quite posh Omni Hospital in the area. Similar to a 5 star hotel, the boy greeted me with a bow and helped me out of the car. I could walk directly to the lab, had a short consultation with the chief lab physician and got my blood and faeces tested. The lab doctor, an enterprising lady of about 35 y/o, as well as her staff were extremely friendly and I couldn't have received a more professional service.

My blood was taken by a young lady who could be a doctor or a nurse. Nevertheless, she gave me some advice already and told me that you could quite tell the temporary diagnosis by the symptoms and signs of the fever. I didn't have fever and pain.

My mum insisted me to see a doctor and I agreed again because we were already at the hospital. This doctor was a silly old guy with whom I had not only language problems. He didn't ask me questions but just determine what he would like to hear. For instance:"You have diarrhoea." or "You are in the healing stage, why should I give you an attestation?" He simply didn't listen to my words or didn't want to listen.

Then he diagnosed skabies as I was just bitten by mosquitoes. After my questions he told me that mosquito bites didn't leave scars. They do, especially if you scratch very hard. The bites were scattered all over the body while skabies has certain locations on the body.

After the "consultation" was finished he gave my mother the prescription without even explaining anything to me. I needed to ask the pharmacist and they did not have a package insert!! At least she told me the generic name of the medicine and that it was antibiotics, an anti-fungal remedy and some dubious mixture of analgesics. In Indonesia it is still quite common for doctors to mix up some suspicious brewings.

The lab results clearly showed that I had a fungal infection and he prescribed antibiotics. Antibiotics only work for a bacterial infection and would definitely aggravate a fungal infection. And what sense does a mixture of antibiotics and antifungal medicines make?

Thank God I'm a medical doctor and I knew what to do in that case