NHS Tragedy

Today I understand once again that NHS is a useless system that only works for birth control, STDs, and cancer.

The whole idea is making things too complicated that you finally give up freaking bureaucracy and find your own way of recovering. Do you want to know how? Take a deep breath and read then:

Monday morning: I had hay-fever last Sunday after a tiring journey. I woke up sweating as if I attended a marathon Monday morning and called my GP (General Practitioner) GP is the doctor who you never meet but you have his name on all NHS documents. You can't reach him when you need him. You are periodically forwarded to a lot of useless nurses instead (there are always exceptions for sure!). You register with a different GP wherever you move in to so that they are aware of your existence, they can invite you for cancer scanning, they can give you thousands of condoms for free or prescribe contraceptions. Yes NHS is obsessed with birth control!

Anyway. GP gave me the "first available appointment" for Tuesday afternoon. I forgot to tell you. You have to make an appointment to see your doctor for a cold, flu etc. In the mean time you are on your own. When you finally get the chance to see your GP you mostly recovered or your medical condition is evolved. You would be survived on paracetamol's, hot tea with lemon or lemsips, reiki, pray, good will etc.

Tuesday morning: Hence I woke up Tuesday morning with an itchy eye. It was eye infection. However it was to take another 2 days to diagnose eye infection for NHS! Because GP said my temperature is fine, my tonsils look all right. I should be drinking lots of liquid and "two of my eyes are the same", no problem!

This "very scientific" explanation from my so-called GP did not impress me at all then I went to Boots to talk to the pharmacist. She said she couldn't give me antibiotics that I should see an optician for prescriptions. Then I googled my address and optician as key words and phoned the first result to make an appointment. Because my eye was getting painful, worse. Considering my job on TV, being applied make up on&off all the time with a swollen pink eye is the last thing I'd like to have nowadays!

Wednesday morning: My eye was swollen, pink, painful. I could see the infection behind my eye lid. I googled everything I diagnosed myself but all I needed was an antibiotic cream and a doctor with a degree who can prescribe it! My colleague David suggested me to go to eye hospital close to work instead of an optician. I phoned the optician to cancel the appointment. And he said he can refer me to the hospital. I should be seeing the optician first. After general check-up he'll refer me. I was helpless, in pain and in need of urgent solution in my long lunch break so that I could come back to work asap...

Optician checked my eyes. Without using computer-based system: I turned out to be "shirt-sighted" 0.50 both eyes, having very dry eyes needing urgent dehydration. AND after 45 minutes he asked for extra £15 to check my REAL problem, eye lid. He said this could be an allergy but he couldn't say anything. He referred me to an ophthalmologist in another eye hospital in Baker Street. And his mate was showing me frames for glasses. God sake I was trying lots of glasses as if my urgent problem was SEEING! I don't drive, I don't watch TV. The longest distance I look is the computer screen! Who cares being short-sighted when you have a painful infection inside your eye?!? I paid £40 for check-up, £30 for artificial tears for dehydrating my eyes, £90 for lenses, £160 designer's frame: I was robbed around £340. Still no diagnosis to my swollen eye. No solution. Nothing.

It took 1 hour to find the hospital. I waited 2 hours to be seen by a doctor. Apparently I was lucky because I had a referral from my optician otherwise they wouldn't see me that soon (!)

And guess what: Doctor diagnosed infection under eyelid, prescribed antibiotic cream for one week. He said it should get better, if not I should come back for a minor surgery to remove infection. Just like what I read online. He also said take paracetamol for pain just like any other doctor in this country. I went back to work, starving, carrying lots of papers in my hand, late for my afternoon job. eventually I bought the antibiotic cream costing only £5!

NHS is the system that you should fight with the help of your immune system. The only logic is take paracetamol, take days off, put your feet up, eat well and try to strengthen your immune system! Otherwise you are in trouble.

Look what London's done to us!

Look what London has done to us:

You had time to kill before, now you live your life as "an appointment-based system".

You've learnt not to open your umbrella for small drops since it can stop soon.

And you learnt not to open your heart too soon since you can find yourself as naked - metaphorically speaking.

You drink, you smoke and define yourself as a social drinker-smoker. This is how they call "shivering smoking" or "drinking in suits" outside huge City buildings and pubs.

You had a lunch break before, now you sneak and munch your sandwich in front of your computer like homeless people.

You wake up with an I-phone or Blackberry alarm not with the morning shine and you switch your brain on with caffeine.

You don't wait for traffic lights turn to green to cross the road as you take initiative not to press "wait" button in rush hours.

You always "mind the gap between the train and the platform", you "press button to operate the lift", you "don't leave your luggages unattended", because you "keep your personal belongings with you at all times."

You wear a helmet to cycle. Well you actually cycle!

You became card-maniac! I bet you carry at least one of these cards:
A-Oyster
B-Tesco
C-company card with a not-quite-like-you picture on
D-medical card from your GP
E-Boots,Body Shop,Nandos, Cafe Nero etc.

And look what London has done to us:

You saw people who had time for sex but too busy for love, who had a fat wallet and thin heart or huge ego and small brain or deep eyes and no vision.

You learnt that girls could ask men out, then get no response and find out those men are both bisexual and racist in this city.

You find yourself looking at the calender to book holidays, checking public holidays, flights, possible long weekends etc every now and then.

You "like" your London friends' facebook status of "BBQ!" when it's sunny on weekends!

You tell your female friends that they look "sexy" when they wear a mini skirt, hills, hold-ups, low V-necks no matter how dreadful they look you appreciate their effort!

And you dislike when they ask you "where are you from?" in pubs, bars, and clubs to start a conversation.

Because no matter who you are, where you are from you are in the same melting pot.

Because in London you are a Londoner.

We love London because in London everyone has their unique IDENTITY and everyone has their ANONYMITY.

Get London reading? Whaa?!?

Few weeks ago, The Evening Standard -London's free-to-pick-up paper launched a courageous campaign to tackle illiteracy in the capital. I was impressed by the jaw-dropping figures given by the paper. Get this: Thousands of 11-year-olds start secondary school in London with a reading age of seven!

And Education Secretary Michael Gove said: "Children who cannot read are condemned to spend their entire life in a prison house of ignorance."

I am not planing to praise the paper because of the charity they organized to get London kids reading by the help of volunteers. Not because they don't deserve but I shall draw a different picture with these colours.

London as the capital city of United Kingdom is the centre of civilization in the eyes of people in the Eastern world. Trains and undergrounds in early mornings are full of people whose only foreheads could be seen, half of their faces are covered by newspapers, Ipads, books, magazines, papers whatever you can read something from! Especially when it comes to education, university degrees in engineering, science, law, literature, art and lately media UK universities are still far more better than the ones in Europe and the US in terms of their educational values and quality.

35 years ago when my father studied textile engineering in Bradford there wasn't even any better course in elsewhere in the world to compete with the textile-knitting technology education in the UK. Years later UK universities still hold their good reputation at least in the Eastern world - hard to get acceptance for masters degrees, strict rules during the studies and intensive academic programmes. So what on earth happened to the UK and its capital suffers from children illiteracy?
The paper reports that illiteracy mostly is the problem of the kids whose families speak English as a second language. We know that almost 80% of London is populated by foreigners. But wait a minute. English is my second language as well. I spent -including cost of living £16k for one year masters degree and another £8k to improve my English to academic level. Excuse me sirs! but if those families are refugees and holding UK passports they shouldn't have the luxury of not speaking English and not teaching or reading their kids in English.

Minority or refugee no excuse is acceptable for not reading in the official language of the country you live in. This is like Turks who live in closed Turkish community in Germany and can't read German or Kurds in the Eastern Turkey who can't read in Turkish.

DO GET London and the rest of the world reading and get them out of this prison please...