Learn: What not to do when you're ill in Chile

(Public FONASA and Private ISAPRE health care insurance in Chile)

After having spent over 9 months in Chile, I consider myself pretty lucky that I haven't had any major problems and needed to go to the doctor. But after a nasty (and mysterious) mosquito attack, it now was my time to experience what the Chilean health care system is really like.

So one morning I woke up to find my face all blotchy, red and as puffy as a marshmallow. I had work later that day and obviously couldn't teach looking like this. So I tried to ring my boss but no answer. I then sent her an email explaining what had happened in the hope that I could stay home and hide away in my room until my face returned to its normal state.

But this is Chile. And when you're sick in Chile and you need a day off work you must ALWAYS provide a doctors certificate proving that you were actually too ill to work. This means, instead of resting at home, you must drag yourself out of bed and crawl to a doctor to get a medical certificate or 'proof of illness'. Knowing this, I reluctantly started research online how to get a doctors appointment in Santiago.

I found out from a Chilean friend that I could reserve appointments online with a private doctor. Easy! I thought. But when I finally managed to register online and get to the appointment reservation stage I was confronted with the worst news imaginable;

No appointments till Wednesday... And it was Monday!

Oh god, what do I do now!?

In a fit of panic I thought, maybe going to the public hospital on the other side of town would be a good idea. In this case, I was lucky. Even though my face was on fire, I was still able to walk. So being completely oblivious to how the health system works in Chile, I left the comfort of home and naively headed off to the hospital.

This was then followed by strange stares and comments regarding my swollen face, which I tried really hard to ignore.

Got to the hospital, just walking in through the nearest door I could find, with no clue as to what department I was in. I explained my situation to the receptionist at the desk. Afterwards she stared at me as if I was an ignorant foreigner (I was) and told me...

"Mejor que vayas a una clínica privada (it's best that you go to a private clinic)"

Turns out that, in order to receive treatment from a public hospital I would've had to become a registered patient for the specific hospital that corresponded to my residential area in Santiago. But I was quite relieved to hear this news, as there was more than a two hour wait even for urgent appointments. 

So in the end, I went to work the next day terrified of being fired. I couldn't get the doctors certificate and still took the day off, which in Chile is considered a sackable offence. But luckily my face was still a bit swollen- I had evidence that I was ill so I didn't need the doctors certificate after all.

Lesson well learnt: know about the health care system in your country and how it works BEFORE you get sick!