Medical Kits by Adnil Gutara

As I finished my last bite of dinner with my homestay family, I decided to ask my homestay mom about how visits to the hospital worked in Guatemala. My roommate had just gotten sick and had gone to see a doctor to get it checked out. Although I was expecting some of the differences she mentioned, her answer took me by surprise. She explained how she had needed spinal surgery one time and had to wait a month to be treated. She told me how she had to stay in the hospital for that entire month because if she decided to go home she would lose her bed and place in line. She told me about the bed she slept in and how it had a hole in the middle but she couldn't leave it because that would mean she couldn´t get the surgery she needed. I then asked if they would make people who needed urgent care wait too, and she replied that not only would they have to wait, but if they couldn´t afford to pay the bill they wouldn´t be treated. They would be left to die. She then went on to explain how when you walk into a hospital in Guatemala, you are walking into a business. Everything you need is sold. If you are in need for surgery, you would need to purchase the materials that would be used during your surgery. I then realized that for many impoverished families, purchasing expensive medical kits for surgery wasn´t a possibility . In the future I would love to come back and do my part in fixing this issue.