Health and Diseases

Medical care of any type in our country is free of charge, although there are now many private doctors. We do not pay for prescriptions or for some medicines. As to financial help after giving birth, mothers get benefits for three years after the birth of a child. For the first 26 weeks she gets 90 per cent of her pay and for the rest of her maternity leave she gets fewer benefits. Then comes medical and social care during the pre-school and school age, up to old age. Employers pay health insurance for their employees but everybody can pay extra money for his/her health insurance. If we fall ill or if we have an accident, we go to the Health Centre, Policlinic, Hospital or to some Private Doctor.

There are various types of medical treatment for our different types of troubles. A doctor may ask you to strip to the waist before he/she examines your chest and throat. They check our blood pressure, feel the pulse or put our blood or urine through lab-tests. Sometimes they may X-ray our lungs or bones. We must go through many types of vaccination during our lives. Dentists may check our teeth and sometimes pull out one of them or drill and fill them. Doctors usually prescribe some medicines to us - pills, antibiotics, gargles, or sleeping pills. They may also tell us to go on a diet. There are various types of physicians who treat various diseases and disorders. They are e.g., GP (general practitioners). Each person should undergo a regular check-up at least once a year. However we usually go to see our doctor when we do not feel well or have an elevated temperature.

We can suffer from various illnesses beginning with common childhood diseases. Usually we suffer from common infections such as colds, influenza, or the "stomach flu". In such cases we usually stay in bed, drink herbal teas, take pills, drops or vitamins and after a week or two we feel well again. However the situation may sometimes be more serious and need special treatment in the hospital, e.g. heart attack, breaking an arm or leg. There are still diseases which can't be cured such as cancer or AIDS. It is true that prevention is better than a cure. We should try to live a healthy way of life, which means we should have a good proportion of work to leisure time. We should practice sports, at least swim or go for walks, we should eat healthy food with lots of vitamins, we should not smoke or drink too much alcohol.

Health and Human Body

When you are ill, so you have to visit a doctor. Everybody in our country has the right to choose a doctor. There are two types of them, state and private doctors. Medical care is provided for our citizens from birth to death. Even before the birth there is prenatal care including medical check-ups and then maternity services. Soon after birth each child is vaccinated against such illnesses as tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and later smallpox. Each school child is under medical supervision, which means also a series of preventive medical and dental check ups, where the body is examined, teeth checked and eyesight tested. Common children's diseases are cold, measles, mumps or chicken pox. The most common disease of all is cold, flu, tonsillitis, bronchitis or pneumonia. When you have flu. When you have a flue, you usually have a temperature, sore throat, cough and you snooze very often. You also have a headache and feel very weak and sick and even hoarse. You can go through it easily by staying in bed taking pills, keeping warm, sweating, gargling and drinking herbal tea with honey or lemon. But overcoming the illness can be very dangerous and the illness can became very serious and can have dangerous after-effects. When you feel unwell, you can see a physician doctor called General practitioner (GP). You can make an appointment with the doctor in his surgery time and you avoid of long waiting in the waiting room, which is often overcrowded. When the nurse comes out, you have to give her your insurance card and then she invites you to a consulting room. The doctor usually asks what the trouble is and then asks us to strip to the waist, because he must examine our chest and throat. He also wants to know if we have a temperature, a good appetite and here you feel pain. Then he listens to our lungs and heart. He also wants us to open our mouth and say “Ah” to see if our tonsils are red. Sometimes he checks the blood pressure and the pulse, takes the blood or asks us to give him urine for lab tests. Finally the doctor diagnoses the case and therapy and prescribes a medicine. With prescriptions you go to pharmacy (at the chemist's) and get antibiotics, vitamins pain relievers, ointment, syrup, herbs for a tea, spray, drops or gargle. Sometimes the GP send us to specialists: oculist, ear and throat specialist, and gynaecologist or for an X-ray examination. In more serious cases, if you get injured, you can call the doctor to home or to the palace of the accident. You can be taken to hospital by an ambulance. In case of unconsciousness of heart attack the patient is put on a stretcher. In a very serious car accident the patient can be taken to hospital by a special helicopter. Sometimes it is necessary to give first aid such as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or to stop the bleeding or fix fractures. In the hospital the injured people are examined and X-rayed at a casualty ward and serious cases are immediately operated in the operating room. There are many departments: internal, surgical, dental, eye, dermatology, ear and throat, gynaecologist and a department for children. If the operation is planed, patient must pass several tests and the just before the operation he is anaesthetised by means of an injection of narcotic. After the operation a scar often remains. The patient is sometimes sent to a health resort or a spa for rehabilitation. There he undergoes water treatment, takes baths, massage, remedial exercises and drinks the waters. Not all illnesses can be cured. There are fatal illnesses like cancer or AIDS, which are incurable so far. But the best way to cure such an illness is not to catch it, because prevention is better than cure. You can keep your health by physical training, hardening the body, sporting, sufficient sleep, balanced diet and avoiding smoking cigarettes, stress and drinking big amount of alcohol.

Today we are not afraid of the diseases as pneumonia, measles or flu

because we know to cure them, we have good medicines against them. The

small children are vaccinated against the strong and dangerous disea­

ses, but some of them are still here very because it's very difficult

to cure it (sometimes it isn't possible). The biggest problem for the

doctors is the cancer and AIDS today. Many people have already died,

many people is dieing just now and many people will die. AIDS it's the

personal question of everyone so it depends on us if we will have AIDS

or not. But the cancer you can't fight against it. Every forth person

in our country is suffering from the cancer. The worst thing is that

you can't find it out, you can be ill for 20 years and everything's

OK.

But one day a doctor find it out suddenly and you can die in one year

or one month. I am afraid of it because I can do nothing. The worst

thing is that it's the result of the pollution and of our industrial

disasters.

And what about me? I hope that I don't suffer from AIDS or cancer.

I can't say if I was or if I wasn't a happy child because I hadn't had

any child's disease as measles or german measles. I have also never

had anything broken. I was suffering from 3 diseases (if it can be

called diseases): pneumonia, tonsillitis and inflammation of my front.

The pneumonia I had about 10 times, so I had to go to a special doctor

(an umminologist) who gave me the special medicines. Since that I am

OK.

When I was 9 years old, I was in hospital. They got away my pharyngeal

tonsils from my neck. I had to stay there 5 days. I couldn't eat at

all, so I lost about 3 or 4 kg in 5 days. Then I relaxed 2 weeks at

home and since that everything's OK in my neck.

Health services in Britain

- one of the factors constituting the level of living

- you fall ill -> get in touch with a doctor

(you can call him to come if you are too ill)

- the National Health Service -> free of charge (relatively) - every-

thing payed by the taxation, assurances and by the state too

- everybody in UK on the list of a general practitioner - doctor wor-

king in the locality (called GP) -> the first doctor who see you if

you are ill - the elementary care for the patient

(examines patient, takes the temperature, checks the blood pressure,

the pulse and prescribes a medicine)

- GP will send you to a special treatment in some hospital if it's ne­

cessary

- the teaching hospitals (the students get there the practical trai-

ning), district general hospitals and of course private hospitals

(called nursing homes) <=> you can choose if you want to pay or not

- small children and gravid women are regulary seen at clinics or lo

cal

- most drugs can be obtained from a chemist if you have a prescription,

but some simple medicines are available without it

World health organization

- established on April 7th, 1948 -> marked as World Health Day

- its aim = to develop the international health cooperation

- 152 members actually (including Czechoslovakia)

- helps countries to educate specialists, cares for mothers and chil-

dren

- it helps in case of great nature disasters and also to find and re-

search the medicines against the diseases as AIDS or cancer

Health service in the Czech Republic

- state medical care free of charge - everyone pay the tax for

medical care from the salary

- every child and young people is cared by the regulary checkings of

their body and their teeth

- every adult can go to doctor who takes care about all employees and

the colleagues from a company or factory

- every citizen is also registered at local health service where he

can go if he has any troubles - he finds there the base care of all

body and if it's necessary they send you to special treatment

- everyone can choose his doctor too

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