In the previous article, I mentioned that I injured myself near the Blue Window scenic area on Gozo Island. Due to the limited medical facilities on Gozo Island, after returning to Malta by ferry in the afternoon and contacting a travel agency in Beijing, the agency inquired with the insurance company. As per the requirements of the insurance company we purchased, we were to go to a hospital in Malta for diagnosis and examination.

In this article, I want to specifically talk about my experience of seeing a doctor in a foreign hospital.

On May 30th at noon, I accidentally fell and injured myself at the scenic spot near the famous Blue Window in Malta.

After the fall, my left arm was injured, and with the emergency treatment from my friends, I was given a simple sling.

In the afternoon, after returning to Malta, I rushed to a private hospital for examination and treatment.

According to the regulations of domestic insurance companies, this is how it works.

If you are accidentally injured while traveling abroad, you must find a local hospital that can provide 24-hour service for treatment in order to get reimbursed.

Since I was unfamiliar with Malta, we chose a hospital not far from the hotel under the recommendation of our local tour guide.

The hotel front desk helped us book a taxi, and we took a 10-minute ride to this private hospital.

We arrived around four or five in the afternoon, and upon entering the hospital, I noticed that there were not many patients.

Although the hospital was not large, the environment was quite nice.

I was injured because the rocky surface at the shore was washed by the waves.

This caused severe pain in my left arm.

Fortunately, there was no immediate redness or swelling, so I needed to go to the hospital to check if there was a fracture.

After arriving at this seemingly more formal hospital, I felt much more at ease.

It was just a bit strange to see a doctor in a foreign hospital for the first time.

Our team leader from Beijing, Xiao Liu, speaks excellent English and accompanied me throughout the hospital visit.

She was running around to help me.

After arriving at the hospital, I saw that there were not many patients waiting, and I thought I would be able to see the doctor soon.

I hadn't seen the doctor yet, but I felt much better, and my arm seemed to hurt less.

When team leader Xiao Liu registered me, she first paid a fee of 35 euros, though I didn't know what it was for.

Converted to RMB, it was about 270 yuan, and at that time, I didn't know how much more I would spend later.

But I never expected this would turn into a long waiting process.

We held the registration slip and waited in order for the doctor to see us.

There were only two or three patients ahead of me.

However, the doctor was particularly slow in seeing patients.

We waited for half an hour without anyone attending to us, watching the display screen call numbers, while other patients had already been seen, and we were still waiting dryly.

Several times, we went to inquire at the registration and emergency inquiry desk, and those people would just say: wait.

After another period of waiting, I was finally called in. A male doctor in his fifties examined my arm briefly and then told team leader Liu in English to get an X-ray. He agreed to take the X-ray after confirming my injury.

We left the emergency room and walked to the X-ray room, continuing to wait outside.

Another half an hour passed, and by this time, other patients had all been seen, and the emergency billing staff had also finished their shifts.

We went to inquire a few more times, but the doctor still asked us to wait outside.

I saw that there was no one left in the hospital corridor.

I felt a wave of anxiety.

About 20 minutes later, we could no longer wait and took the initiative to knock on the doors of other rooms. After being questioned by someone who seemed to be a hospital leader, I was finally called in.

An older female doctor took the X-ray of my left arm.

After carefully examining the painful area of my left arm, she took five X-rays from different angles.

The X-ray room in this hospital in Malta had several areas, and while taking the X-ray, I saw that the equipment was similar to that in domestic hospitals, but the room was not as heavily guarded as in Chinese hospitals; instead, there was a small room separated for the doctor to observe while taking the X-ray.

Team leader Xiao Liu took these precious photos of me with the doctor in this simple little workspace.

After the X-ray, I was invited to the trauma treatment room.

The waiting time after the X-ray was not too long.

I was waiting for an older male orthopedic doctor in the emergency room to read the X-ray.

Soon, the doctor came over and clearly informed me that there were no fractures in my left arm.

I just needed to have it bandaged and fixed for 48 hours.

Thank goodness, this was truly a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

In the surgical treatment room, a middle-aged female doctor carefully bandaged my left arm.

The doctor also wrote me a diagnosis report.

After that, she said I could leave the hospital.

In the end, my visit to this private hospital only cost 35 euros.

This included registration, initial diagnosis, five X-rays, and all bandaging costs.

Through this experience of visiting the emergency room in a private hospital in Malta, I have deep feelings.

First, the cost was not high.

Second, the doctor was very serious in examining me, and after confirming there were no fractures, did not prescribe me a bunch of random medications.

Third, the medical conditions and hardware in Malta's hospitals should be similar to those in domestic hospitals, but the environment is much better.

Fourth, there were not many patients in the hospital, and there were plenty of doctors and nurses.

Finally, the waiting time for seeing a doctor was very long, and the pace of seeing patients was slow, which is different from domestic hospitals.

I had previously only heard others talk about or read online about experiences of seeing a doctor abroad, but this time I personally experienced it, and this feeling is the most authentic.

So this is what a private hospital abroad is like.

I had never been to a hospital abroad before, and this time going to a local private hospital due to an injury was also an experience.

（To be continued）