I had my first tryst with the Canadian health system and it disappointed me to my core.
My wife and I moved from Oslo to Toronto so I could pursue journalism at Humber College. Within weeks we found our rental house was infested with bedbugs.
I woke up on Oct. 3 to a swollen bed bug bite on my eye. I received two professional treatments to eradicate the bug bite and frantically tried to find clinics that would allow walk-ins for this kind of emergency.
I called MorCare Insurance, an international student health insurance that’s provided by Humber College. They directed me to Appletree Medical Centre as a cashless option.
The customer care number for Appletree Medical Centre confirmed walk-ins at 275 Dundas St. W. are being accepted. But when I reached the centre with my wife, I found out the doctor was not taking any walk-ins, contrary to the confirmation I received over the phone.
I had to find another clinic.
The nearest one was Mount Sinai Hospital and I registered myself in the emergency ward, hoping I would be seen shortly.
After the paperwork, registration and waiting for three hours, a nurse attended to me and checked my vision. She repeatedly asked me to wait until the eye doctor could come and check me.
Half an hour of waiting went by and the eye doctor came and asked the same questions. I answered patiently hoping my eye would be thoroughly checked by the refraction machines.
But no.
“A general resident physician will come and check you,” she said.
Another 15 to 20 minutes of waiting goes by and the physician comes to check on me.
“There’s nothing I can do. Just hold a cold compress to the eye and the swelling should go away on its own,” he said.
I tried reasoning with him.
“Don’t you want to check my eye for any scratches due to the bug?”
“No. Since it is an eyelid rash and not inside the eye, nothing more can be done. Maybe you can take Benadryl, but it will make you drowsy,” he said.
“No eye drops?” I asked.
“No.”
I took my out-patient papers and patiently left the hospital knowing that a $750 bill would jeopardize my home’s savings and it wouldn’t nearly be enough.
Will MorCare take care of it or not?
After having a field day at the hospital, with no respite, my eye still feels heavy and itchy due to the bug bite.
I went straight to a pharmacy only to find there were products like antihistamines and anti-allergic eye drops that could’ve helped me.
Maybe I should have gone to the pharmacy for consultation at the beginning.