The Finnish Health Care System

This picture shows me at the worst phase of my health life in Finland when I suffered heart failure, underwent triple by pass surgery and changed my lifestyle, some for the better and some for the worse.

Maybe this short introduction will help some of you when health crisis looms!

Those of you who are relatively new to Finland should understand the good and the bad of the Finnish health care system. Those who work with companies, such as Nokia, or have private insurance, should also take care to understand the pros and cons of the Finnish system.

If you have come from India, when you walk into a good clinic there, an experienced doctor can literally diagnose you as you walk into the room. An Indian doctor handles about 60 times more patients in the same time span as a Finnish doctor. The Indian doctor is also not hampered by taboos associated with accepting traditional medicines.

When our younger daughter was studying medicine in Newcastle, she went to do her internship in a hospital on the outskirts of Chennai. Her experience was so enlightening, at the young age of 50 she is Dean of a hospital today,  not only because she is brilliant but because of the practical experience she obtained during her internship. 

We have outlined her history in our blog entry "Proud Parents".

She did her Master's in English Philology from Oulu University, had a great job in Nokia, taught in the Open University in Oulu and then decided she wanted to take up her calling as a doctor. 

She joined Newcastle University in UK, and while raising three small children as a single mother, qualified as a doctor, headed the anatomy department in the hospital and is now the Dean of the Newcastle University associated teaching hospital in Malaysia in Johor, about 20 km from Singapore.

Coming back to the subject of medical treatment in Finland, if you walk into a Finnish hospital you are first greeted at an information counter, given a token to see a nurse, which sometimes may take half an hour or more.  The nurse will want to know sympyoms you have and she will decide what tests need to be done. That may take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.  Only after the results are obtained will she refer you the doctor. That process may take from half an hour to four or more hours!

Annikki and I once took Annikki’s 82 year old mother one evening to the outpatient department in the Oulu University Hospital. The poor lady had to sit there for eight hours, with no nourishment, before she was seen by the  doctor to get a prescription of a painkiller!

In another instance, I developed a rash and I decided to consult a doctior at the Oulu City Hospital. Annikki told me not to waste my time as she knew what it was. I persisted and went to the hospital to go through this long procedure before the tests were done. The doctor studied the results before he proclaimed that I had a version of chicken pox. Annikki had seen this through bringing up our four kids, so her diagnosis was 100% correct. Did she laugh!!!

I remember two cases of Indian IT engineers who stayed in our Oulu  apartments, I took them to the hospital suffering severe intestinal symptoms. After hours of waiting, experiencing excruciating pain, with me holding their hands, they were sent home with a prescription of painkillers. 

In one case I had to rush the engineer (as Rakesh Rawat will confirm from Apple Inc. in Cupertino)  to hospital  the next day, and his wife, Dipti and their daughter had to come home to be looked after by Annikki. Poor Rakesh had severe complications and had needed immediate urgent care.

Another case was of Nainala Srinivas who called me to lunch at his apartment in India House and while making pudina chutney for me sliced off part of his finger. I had to rush him to hospital and undergo the same lengthy process  while he was in sheer agony! Poor fellow was crying on my shoulder.'

So do not be fobbed off by any doctor in an outpatient Department. Question the diagnosis as otherwise it may be too late as "Uncle (now Grandpa) Jacob" now with his one leg will not be around to take you back to be attended to! :-) 

This is not to say that quality of the senior doctors is not the best. My life was saved because of the rapid response to do the bypass surgery. 

But that is another story. 

Annikki and I, because of our lifestyle never had occasion to visit the hospitals in Finland for over 30 years except for mandatory tests. 

On every visit to India we used to do the Executive Health check up at one of the good hospitals as Apollo. This prevention is better than cure philosophy was great. Also on our regular visits to India  Annikki would bring back essential health aids, such as Electral, pain plasters and simple important non prescription medicines, so that we did not even have to visit a local pharmacy.  

Annikki was also a great one for reading books on health which made our life style a healthy one. I knew I had a high sugar problem, but exercise and good food kept it in check.

In 2016 I developed a small fat lump on my back. The doctor suggested lancing it. The minor operation was done. I was given an antibiotic as a post operative treatment. 

By evening I developed a intensive body rash requiring me to go the hospital. I was taken off the antibiotic immediately, but the damage had been done. 

My entire immune system was thrown out of gear. I soon suffered heart failure and had to be taken to hospital for bypass surgery. Water had collected in my lungs virtually drowning me and I was unable to breathe. That had to be syringed out. I was minutes from death but God knew I had a purpose still on this earth and he gave me the best medical treatment possible in Oulu University Hospital. The doctors and nurses were simply superb.

My underlying Type 2 diabetes surfaced and my eyesight started to fail. I was officially declared a diabetic.

I developed gangarine in one toe of my left foot and that was cured by great care by the wound department of the Oulu City Hospital.

While that was happening they decided to do angioplasty on my legs. On my left leg they did it to the foot but on the other, from where they had removed the vein for my bypass surgery, they stopped at the knee.

I developed gangarine on my right big toe, which then required amputation. Then other toes started to show signs of gangarine.

I lost all of them, and then half my right foot. The situation got worse till last June, 2022, when the decided they would amputate my right leg. I asked them to discuss with my daughter, who studied the results and told them to only amputate to below the knee. And that is the situation today. I may still try to climb Everest as my mentor is that Nepali who climbed it with both his legs amputated.

In the process I went through great hospital care and some pathetic nursing as well. The lack of attention in one instance resulted in 4 litres of urine collecting in my system. If I had not been a heavy drinker in my early life (I have been a teatotaller for 44 years now), I would have exploded. I survived but my kidneys were severely affected. The urologists gave uo one me but I followed the old wives tale remedies of my mother and regenerated all the functions again and got back control.

Again, when I went for my major amputation, they gave me a spinal anaesthetic which again threw my kidneys to the winds. Again the urologists gave up on me, but excellent ayurvedic care from Dehra Dun and the old wives remedies have put me back again to normalcy.

Recently, when Annikki had a burst appendix, the rapid respose was so quick, that her life was saved by the doctors and care in Oulu University Hospital.

Annikki because of the severe stress she went through has developed dementia, something which is heridetary. Today with one leg, an electric wheelchair, a walker, and excellent support from the Finnish health care system, at the tender ages of 79 and 80, we are even looking after young Indian students who arrive in Oulu, teaching them how to orient to life in Finland till they get acclimatisation and accommodation from PSOAS.

Our advice to all of those who come from abroad to Finland, please consult those who have experience with the system in Finland. 

Let not the blind lead the blind. 

Over our 40 years in Finland, we have helped many Indians through their difficulties.

One more word of warning. It is a punishable offence to bring in medicines to Finland from outside the EU. Only a limited amount for self use with a doctor’s prescription is permitted. Not only will the drugs be confiscated but you will face prosecution. 

Many of you may laugh at that as many believe Finnish law will be flexible to your whims. I can assure you that it is not so and as I have found that they are severely harsh on foreigners. 

In Finland there is a need for responsibility. If you disregard the law, you are liable!

Many of you should take note of this advice as we point out in one our earlier blog entries!

Findians

Killer on the loose

A couple of months ago I saw an ad on Facebook or a watch that would measure blood sugar without actually having to prick the finger to take a blood sample. 

As I am a Type 2 diabetic with a widely ranging blood sugar value which needs me to adjust my insulin levels, I thought this could be an alternative. 

I ordered the watch.

It arrived with a broken screen. 

I did a test of all the values to be measured and found the pedometer, the blood pressure and the blood sugar values were grossly inaccurate. 

Also the watch strap clip fell to pieces within two days.

I informed the support team and they offered to send me a new watch. 

I expressly told them that I only needed a watch that accurately measured the blood sugar values, as other measurements were not life threatening.

A new watch arrived which was a different model to the first one. It even ran with a different app on my iPhone.

My testing revealed that all the inaccuracies in measurement continued and especially the blood sugar value. 

It never showed a value of more than 6 when  the actual value could be over 12. And it consistently showed a value of less than 5 when the actual value was more than 8. 

In Type 2 diabetes if the blood sugar measured is less than 5 it is necessary to lift the value with sn intake of sugar. And  if it is more than 7 the insulin dose injected has to be increased.

The value measured using the Smart watch F58 is just 5.7 whereas the value obtained using the blood sample and the blood glucose monitor in 13.8!

The situation with the first watch was similar!

These are killer situations for a Type 2 diabetic patient.

I wrote to the support team and they made a series of offers to refund money, all of which I refused.

In the meantime they removed the blood sugar measurement from the first watch.

The other major error is the pedometer reading. 

I take 2 steps to my wheelchair when I go to the toilet and another 4 steps from the wheelchair to the toilet. I get values which are picked out of thin air as 30 steps to over a 200 steps for such situations. Also I walk for almost an hour every week in the department store when I do my weekly shopping with a walker. I get readings of 100 steps to 500 steps, both of which are nowhere close to reality.

I say that these dangerous readings  that can be killers. You are duly warned not to use these watches for any medical purposes. 

And to top it off, the other day I got a reading of my body temperature of 47.5 C which means they had already killed me off.

Beware of the claims made for these watches.

I am putting a link on Facebook to this blog entry as it could lead you to a very serious situation leading to death!

Good Health?

Ok! I am Type 2 Diabetic

because of my over-indulgence, real over-indulgence, in chocolates, candy bares, sweetened condensed milk and all things sweet. (You get what you pay for!)

But, in all my 26 years in Finland, I never missed a day at work or never have fallen ill.

My daughter, a doctor in Newcastle has been ill last weekend. She mentioned that as a doctor she had patients coughing at her all day! She went on to comment that "Dad, you are superhuman!"

I replied that I was in no way "superhuman"! :-)

It was my old fashioned bringing up in Bombay, where we were exposed to the real deadly infections all around us that built up my immunity.

I remember those really dirty ice lollies I used to consume after a game of hockey or football on the Oval Maidan. These were made by the old man with a cart, where he crushed the ice onto a stick with his bare hands and poured all sorts of coloured liquids on it.

My daughters would be horrified to allow any of their kids to have any of that!

But it is that and the Polymango and street roasted corn on the cob with chilli powder and salt, Bhel Puri, Chat and Pani Puri in the back streets of Bombay that built up the inbuilt immunity in me that has lasted half a century.

Living in a sterile country, like Finland, only makes us nambi-pambies! I am glad to say that all my kids are only half nambi-pammies! But as time goes on me and they are becoming full fledged nambi-pambies!