The Luxury Of Too Many Clients.

 Medicine, a goldmine in Burgenland.

A few months ago I tried to get an appointment at a dermatologist and couldn't believe it when the receptionist informed me that unless one had been a patient before, the waiting list was close to a year for an appointment. 

Today I tried to make an appointment for the ophthalmologist and again, they almost laughed at me when I mentioned that Bob hadn't been a client before. No, they don't take on any new clients due to being so busy! Please to go to his old doc...never mind that there the waiting list for a slot is a few months at least that is if he isn't on a conference or holiday. Yikes, what is happening in Burgenland?

Somehow I think it is a perfect storm of an aging population that hasn't always been health conscious, a shortage of new doctors qualifying and of course the main reason that most young doctors don't want to start their practice in rural climes. Remember, Burgenland only has about 296 000 inhabitants and our capital has roughly 14 000. The various towns and villages slot in somewhere in between.

Sad really when one considers the fact that a life in a rural area is much better. Better for raising a family, better for having time off and obviously better for having enough clients to start off with. Medicine is a business like any other and if it were me, I would prefer to work where there aren't many other doctors about.

The next few decades won't become any easier. People are getting sicker younger and thus are more in need of a doctor and oodles of medicine. It almost feels as though they have a preconceived idea of how middle age should look and feel ( not well ) and slot right into it. On the other end of the spectrum, a few of us ( and thankfully the number is growing ) know that a healthy lifestyle can make visits to the doctor only necessary for emergencies such as a broken bone or so.  Oh, and that 50 is the new 30, 60 the new 40 and so on...

As for our pandemic...if all those decades ago America had exported smoothies, kale and broccoli all over the world instead of fast food chains, I opine that the casualties of this pandemic would be much lower not to mention the overcrowding of the intensive care departments that might not be.

Biggi