One thing that annoys me immensely in Switzerland is that there is no facility for working mothers during pregnancy.
Every other day there’s a doctors appointment that I’m trying to fit into a better schedule – panicked I receive appointments that I didn’t sign up for! Impossible to almost change even when I tell them I am at work – and these lovely nutritionists and nurses don’t have any time to conduct consultations after 5:30pm. They might as well walk around with a sign around their neck saying: “Sorry we close our shop – as we too work 9 to 5!” I understand. I totally do. You guys are human too. You have a home to go to after a long day. Yet I wonder why there has been no initiatives to make an after-work-hours shift with a few doctors, nurses, nutritionists etc., important roles at gynaecologists/women’s health departments – available between 5pm till 8pm. Call it a shift: The workaholic pregnant woman’s health protection shift! Be our hero! Cause not all pregnant women stay at home chilling, you know?!?!
Sigh! I have to say, on this, Calcutta medical facilities are doing way better! Most private practices work between 6-10am and then 7-10pm! You can ask your doctor to make a home-call if you are unable to go to his dispensary, ‘cause they know people need to be at work/schools/colleges and can’t just take a sick day off to see a nutritionist in the middle of the day! And oh! They speak a bunch of different languages – particularly English (and these days some even speak Russian, German and French) so that no one (not even foreigners settled in the region) feel left out of medical aid.
We need amends in our medical/health system in Switzerland to facilitate pregnant working mothers. And for sure – apart from the regional language, one more language of the country (if not, at least English) should be a given! If an eastern colonial city in what is considered a 3rd world/developing country can do it – I don’t see why we can’t do better that them!
ANTHROPOLOGY OF LOVE 