KZBlog

When you are sick, there’s nothing more comforting than the treatments you remember from your childhood. For Americans, probably chicken soup and resting in bed. I know many Russians in the US who go hunting for mustard and horseradish compresses when they are ill, just like mom used to make. So maybe that’s why it’s so hard to tolerate differences in medical systems when you live abroad. One thing about Kazakhstan’s medical system that I find hard to swallow (so to speak) is the giving of injections for almost any condition. It may come as a surprise to my Kazakhstani readers, that I don’t think I have ever been given medicine in an injection in my life. Vaccinations, yes. Booster shots, yes, when I was a child. Other than that, it’s been pills and tablets and liquids.

I hate shots because 1) they’re painful, 2) you have to find time to go to the doctor’s office every single day, 3) you have to pay for them every single day, bringing up the cost significantly, 4) there’s always the risk of a dirty needle, 5) there’s always the risk of an airbubble, 6) personally my veins are shot to hell after one week of injections so I look like a heroin addict, and I can barely bend my arms for another week after. Pills have none of these disadvantages.

Now, I’m not a doctor, so I’m really hoping someone with medical training can answer this question. Why do Kazakhstani doctors give so many shots and why don’t American doctors give shots? Is anyone right, or is it just two competing theories of medicine?