Indian Woman In New Zealand Struggles To Find Doctor For Sick Child: ‘Perhaps India Is Best’For a parent, having a sick child and being told the next available doctor’s appointment is a week away can be incredibly stressful.That’s what an Indian woman living in New Zealand says she experienced recently, after her child had been dealing with a cough for 10 days. Her experience has now sparked a conversation online about the differences between healthcare in New Zealand and India.
‘They don’t have any appointments for a week’
Akriti Jaiswal Srivastava shared her experience in an Instagram video, explaining that she called her local medical centre after her child, Kevith, continued to have a cough that wasn’t getting better.She said she called on a Thursday expecting to get the child checked, only to be told that there were no appointments available for the next week. The slot she was offered was for the following Wednesday.“Kevith has a cough, and it’s been going on for the last 10 days,” she said, explaining that the family had initially waited to see if it would improve on its own.But after 10 days with little improvement, she felt it was time to get the child examined.The family then tried an after-hours clinic, where patients can generally seek care without a regular appointment.But there was another problem.
Even the after-hours clinic was full
When they reached the clinic, Srivastava said it was already overcrowded.She showed viewers a notice at the centre that read: “We are sorry but we are at capacity and unable to take any more patients tonight.”ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.For a parent already worried about a sick child, that was understandably frustrating.Srivastava said the experience made her realise that families moving to New Zealand with children may need to prepare themselves for a very different healthcare system.“Adults can still manage somehow, but for children, managing these things becomes very necessary,” she said.She also said she wished she had been better prepared and had brought some medicines from India for her child.
‘Perhaps India is the best’
Her experience eventually led her to compare healthcare access in New Zealand with what she was used to in India.She acknowledged that New Zealand is a developed country, but said getting quick medical attention can be difficult when a child needs to be seen urgently.“In India, you can go to a hospital or clinic immediately, see a doctor right away, and everything gets sorted quickly,” she said.“But it’s not like that here.”She ended by saying that, based on her experience, “perhaps India is the best” when it comes to getting immediate medical care.
People online shared similar experiences
Her post prompted several people to share their own experiences of waiting for medical care abroad.One person said they had faced a similar situation in London, claiming they once waited more than five and a half hours to be seen by doctors for a consultation that lasted only a few minutes.Others agreed with Srivastava’s experience, with several commenters saying they had faced long waits for appointments and treatment in other countries too.Her account, however, reflects one family’s experience and doesn’t necessarily represent healthcare access across New Zealand. Still, it has struck a chord with Indian families living abroad who may be familiar with the very different experience of being able to walk into a clinic or hospital and see a doctor relatively quickly.
