A Doctor's Visit

When packing for my new life in South Korea, I brought as many skin creams and ointments that I could fit into my suitcase. I have medicated creams prescribed by my doctor in Toronto and I didn't know if they'd be available in Korea. Any extras that I had, my mom sent in the mail last year. After a year and a half, I finally ran out of my prescription. I needed to visit the doctor in Korea for a refill. On the off chance that I couldn't get my medication or an alternative, I'd be in for an uncomfortable few months until I could return to Canada.

My Korean co-teacher had located a skin clinic across town and we arranged to meet on Thursday morning during summer vacation. I waited at the designated bus stop, but when she arrived, she said there was a new skin clinic in our neighbourhood, only a ten-minute walk, and we would try there first.

We arrived at the skin clinic as it was opening. Dr. Lam's Skin Clinic, read the sign in a very modern clinic on the third floor of a standard office building. We entered my name and information onto the sign-in sheet, and the nurse punched it into the computer. My name was added to the waiting list on the tv screen about her desk. After only 10 minutes, we were called into the doctor's office. My Korean co-teacher did all of the talking.

My Korean co-teacher spoke with the doctor for all of 2 minutes. He looked over my empty skin cream containers and wrote a prescription. One cream was not available in Korea, he said, but prescribed an alternative. We bowed to the doctor and left his office. At the front desk, I paid about $5 for the consultation with the doctor, which was remarkably cheap even though he didn't look at me, let alone examine my skin.

We went to the pharmacy in the same building to fill the prescription. They looked at the doctor's form, shoved it back at my Korean co-teacher and said, "We don't have that." We tried to get more information on where we could find the medications, but they were unhelpful. There were several other pharmacies in the area, and we set out to find one that would help us.

We found ourselves at a new and small pharmacy occupied by a very young female pharmacist who was assisted by an older lady, who we would later learn was the pharmacist's mother who sometimes helps out at the shop.

This pharmacist was incredibly helpful. She spent considerable time researching and searching on her computer for my medication. She told us that the prescription that the doctor had provided for one cream wasn't comparable to what I had from Canada, and probably wouldn't help me. She recommended another cream. We would have to go back to the doctor and ask that he change the prescription.

I was worried that the doctor wouldn't be receptive to having his prescription questioned by a pharmacist, especially such a young pharmacist. I was expecting him to be offended and angry. My co-teacher asked that I wait in the lobby while she spoke privately with the doctor. After a few minutes, she came out with a new form for the new prescription.

I asked her what she said to the doctor to convince him to change the prescription. She told the doctor that his original prescription hadn't worked for me before, so I'd like to try what the pharmacist had recommended. Not exactly the truth, but this is how things are done in Korea. I admire my co-teacher for her gumption and ingenuity.

We returned to the helpful pharmacist with the new prescription. I learned that nowhere in Busan was my prescription available, but it could be ordered from a nearby city and expressed delivered by the next day. 

The whole adventure including the repeat visits to the doctor and multiple pharmacists took about 2 hours. The skin creams were quite expensive, totalling about $140 dollars, but with the employer-based health insurance,  I paid only $20.

I returned to the pharmacist the next day and was greeted warmly by her and her mother and collected my skin creams. 

It's always an ordeal visiting the doctor in Korea, but this time it was successful with the invaluable help of my Korean co-teacher. Without a doubt, I couldn't've communicated with the doctor and pharmacist on my own.