6 August 2019
As we have finally decided to go on holiday somewhere other than the UK, we need some innoculations for exotic diseases. Hep A was easy enough - prescription from GP to purchase at the pharmacy, who have a micro-clinic and stuck it in there and then. Typhoid was another matter entirely.
We started with the GP, who said we had to go to the health department in the Town Hall (the Demos). We went to the citizen's advice in the Demos and no-one would tell us where the right department was. We wandered around aimlessly until someone took pity and directed us.
At the HD we tried to explain why we were British citizens seeking innoculations in Greece. The idea of ex-pats going on holiday was quite new to them, and involved a lot of phone calls to a busy advice line in Athens. Eventually we were allowed to proceed. We were given a form to take to the bank.
We went and queued some more at the bank. We eventually arrived at the payment machine (a new innovation causing a lot of consternation), and found we were in the long cash payments queue, not the empty card payment queue. Luckily we had enough cash to pay our 40-odd euros and leave with a receipt.
We had been told to come back the next morning with the receipt, to take the innoculants from the fridge in the Demos and deliver them to the hospital. When we returned with the receipt, there was trouble - we hadn't made two 20-odd payments, one each. We took the wigging, and set out for the hospital.
Luckily we checked just before leaving and found out it was the new hospital, not the old one. So at least we could drive there and park. We had a cool box with us for the Typhoid, but it needed the fridge quickly. We sat in the waiting room, and were encouraged to take a ticket for paediatrics by a helpful fellow-patient, but while out collecting the ticket, the innoculations nurse arrived without our knowledge. After a bit more of a wait, we checked the room, given the urgency of getting to a fridge.
The nurse was there, and there was no queue. She took our phials of innoculant and made lots of phone calls to check what to do and whether we could actually go ahead, since we'd had Hep A only yesterday. Finally she said we had to see a doctor to get a signature and he wasn't available for 30 minutes. We went over the road for a coffee.
The doctor was still busy, but we queued up with our paperwork, and enlisted sympathy from others in the queue, so we could barge in ahead when he appeared. We took the signed papers back to the nurse and finally got the jabs.
We were given our sets of paperwork and told to take them back to the Demos, who would send them to Athens. There we were issued with our yellow medical cards and told to go back to the GP who signed and stamped them.
Only Tetanus to go now ...
As we have finally decided to go on holiday somewhere other than the UK, we need some innoculations for exotic diseases. Hep A was easy enough - prescription from GP to purchase at the pharmacy, who have a micro-clinic and stuck it in there and then. Typhoid was another matter entirely.
We started with the GP, who said we had to go to the health department in the Town Hall (the Demos). We went to the citizen's advice in the Demos and no-one would tell us where the right department was. We wandered around aimlessly until someone took pity and directed us.
At the HD we tried to explain why we were British citizens seeking innoculations in Greece. The idea of ex-pats going on holiday was quite new to them, and involved a lot of phone calls to a busy advice line in Athens. Eventually we were allowed to proceed. We were given a form to take to the bank.
We went and queued some more at the bank. We eventually arrived at the payment machine (a new innovation causing a lot of consternation), and found we were in the long cash payments queue, not the empty card payment queue. Luckily we had enough cash to pay our 40-odd euros and leave with a receipt.
We had been told to come back the next morning with the receipt, to take the innoculants from the fridge in the Demos and deliver them to the hospital. When we returned with the receipt, there was trouble - we hadn't made two 20-odd payments, one each. We took the wigging, and set out for the hospital.
Luckily we checked just before leaving and found out it was the new hospital, not the old one. So at least we could drive there and park. We had a cool box with us for the Typhoid, but it needed the fridge quickly. We sat in the waiting room, and were encouraged to take a ticket for paediatrics by a helpful fellow-patient, but while out collecting the ticket, the innoculations nurse arrived without our knowledge. After a bit more of a wait, we checked the room, given the urgency of getting to a fridge.
The nurse was there, and there was no queue. She took our phials of innoculant and made lots of phone calls to check what to do and whether we could actually go ahead, since we'd had Hep A only yesterday. Finally she said we had to see a doctor to get a signature and he wasn't available for 30 minutes. We went over the road for a coffee.
The doctor was still busy, but we queued up with our paperwork, and enlisted sympathy from others in the queue, so we could barge in ahead when he appeared. We took the signed papers back to the nurse and finally got the jabs.
We were given our sets of paperwork and told to take them back to the Demos, who would send them to Athens. There we were issued with our yellow medical cards and told to go back to the GP who signed and stamped them.
Only Tetanus to go now ...
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