Back to the Hospital

We needed to a follow up appointment for Emmanuel with his Scarlatina. Conveniently enough Noam woke up that morning with a pretty bad sore throat, so he hopped on for a ride to the hospital with us. The good thing is that with one paid visit, you get a follow up appointment. The sad thing is that it needs to be back at the ER, with exactly the same doctor. It meant that we had to wait until he showed up, about one hour and half. Keeping the positive in mind, that is less than a regular doctor office in my hometown in Québec.
Noam was diagnosed with tonsillitis, which is in fact a pre-scarlatina stage. I learn everyday here.
I also paid up for his visit, for a total of 72 reais (US$ 35) for his consultation. This is a private hospital. The hospital is clean, it seems to have a "system that works", as I was always able to retrieve the documents I needed following each visit, and that payments easy to manage (unlike in China) and deliveries of Xrays are done on time. Now in terms of equipment, what they used for my foot's Xray was directly from the 1980s, and some of the testing was "slow" (they did not do it right the first time). But well, assuming that nothing is rare or grave, we are getting a pretty decent service.
For any expat community, medical care is always a big issue, along with education. It was the main reason we left Africa when I was pregnant, and it was a heavy topic of discussion while we were in Beijing. Maybe it is not as much discussed here, as the community is smaller. While the proportion of horror stories is probably similar, I assume we probably have less exposure to them (limited number of people on english speaking forums, no local english language magazines or websites). But the health care system is a factor of inquietude for many new comers, and a reason for the departure of some, for example in case of serious accident or disease.
In any cases, I just returned home and put my two boys back in their PJ. We went back to our couch therapy - the one where you just lie down with a blanket and a doudou and your brother and your mommy. It is the best to get better...