Good news, healthcare is much cheaper here. In the course of two weeks there was a visit to a hemotologist, neurologist (with eeg), pulmonary specialist, and chest x-ray and the total cost for all of this was about what one regular check-up would be stateside. And this was the "private" sector. Public healthcare here is free to those with national insurance (read citizens), though not all forms of care are available, and usually the wait is significant.
On the darker side, at least to Western minds, the health provider community seems to be in the mindset of 20-30 years ago by American standards. Many seem to think that sickness is caused by exposure to draft as much if not more than by germs. The IV medication (and even most OTCs) still come in glass bottles, a mother who has a spinal before a c-section is required to lay flat on her back for the next 24 hours (we learned that from a friend). Some doctors prescribe tea as a medication. One aquaintance broke one finger and they casted his whole hand rather than just splinting it and taping it to a neighboring finger. I think as the "old guard" retire and younger doctors take their places there will be a modernization here. Of course many lay-people also believe some of the "old-wives tales".
Ruth did enjoy getting to use her doctor's kit on Daddy.
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