So I went yesterday for my third out of five check ups (so as I get my maternity leave pay). I changed doctor's since my first horrible visit and have a much nicer lady now. She gave me a slip of paper and told me to go make an appointment for an ultrasound which I also need from the IMSS before they will grant the maternity leave. So we go downstairs and were told we have to go back in the mornings to make appointments, between 8.30am and 4pm. Ok, so we got up early this morning, go to make the appointment and get told that they have none til the 22nd Oct!! erm my baby is due at the end of Oct - will they not give me leave until a few days before my due date then ? :shock: (visions of going into labour whilst sitting at my desk at work)! Turns out they accept ultrasounds done elsewhere so I will just take next week's pictures with me to my next IMSS appointment. I just thought it was pretty funny that they don't have space until a week before my baby is due! :lol: IMSS, gotta luv it!
That's crazy, but it's also what I would expect. The ISSSTE is just as bad. My ISSSTE doctor ordered lab work for me, it took 2 months to get an appt for the test, then the test results took 4 months to get back...and then it turns out the lab work was done WRONG (they contaminated the sample). So that's 6 months for a possible diagnosis except that diagnosis was impossible as I needed a new test. When I had pneumonia last month we went to the ER at the ISSSTE but it was CLOSED! Excuse me? You can't close an ER!! Except in Mexico you can! There was a doctor there who refused to see me, she said she would get in trouble if she saw me since the ER was closed! As far as I'm concerned the ISSSTE is a waste of construction materials and red tape! There's one doc there that I like, but I can't fathom why he works there, it must be intensely frustrating.
If ANYBODY caring a IMSS card has a problem, go into the Central IMSS, (Tulum and Coba) in the emergency enterance you go just a few meters and you find an office called "Trabajo Social", ask for Aida, tell her who you are and she will help you (By the way, that's my wife) I have told her about these problems and to her they are unexceptable.
Thank you, that's nice to know. I was told it was because they have only ONE doctor who does the ultrasounds so they only have appointments in the morning and that's why they have such a delay!!
Yes that is true, but Aida will get you through quicker. Just let me know a day or so in advance and she will be ready.
Well, it ain't just Mexico! Ya' think IMSS & ISSSTE are bad? Try the Kafkaesque nonsense of socialized medicine in the UK! In Merrie Olde Englande, in 2002, when my wife was pregnant the first time, she was scheduled for ante-natal classes three weeks AFTER her expected date of delivery. When I pointed out that such classes were to be a trifle late, the midwife (who had such a thick accent I doubted she was speaking English), simply shrugged and said we should have contacted her earlier. But you cannot approach the Midwife service directly, the initial appointment can ONLY be made by your doctor. What are we supposed to do? Make the appointment before having sex? Pah!
