Visit at the doctor´s
When you are ill, you have to visit a doctor. Everybody in our country has the right to choose a doctor. There are two types of them, state and private doctors.
When you feel unwell, you can see a physician doctor called General practitioner (GP). You can make an appointment with the doctor in his surgery time and you avoid long waiting in the waiting room, which is often overcrowded. When the nurse comes out, you have to give her your insurance card and then she invites you to a consulting room. The doctor usually asks what the trouble is and then asks us to strip to the waist, because he must examine our chest and throat. He also wants to know if we have a temperature, a good appetite and here you feel pain. Then he listens to our lungs and heart. He also wants us to open our mouth and say “Ah” to see if our tonsils are red. Sometimes he checks the blood pressure and the pulse, takes the blood or asks us to give him urine for lab tests. Finally the doctor the diagnoses the case and therapy and prescribes a medicine. With the prescriptions you go to pharmacy (at the chemist’s) and get antibiotics, vitamins pain relievers, ointment, syrup, herbs for a tea, spray, drops or gargle.

Sometimes the GP send us to specialists: oculist, ear and throat specialist, and gynecologist or for an X-ray examination. In more serious cases, if you get injured, you can call the doctor to your home or to the place of the accident. You can be taken to hospital by an ambulance. In case of unconsciousness or heart attack the patient is put on a stretcher. In a very serious car accident the patient can be taken to hospital by a special helicopter. Sometimes it is necessary to give first aid such as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or to stop the bleeding or fix fractures. In the hospital the injured people are examined and X-rayed at a casualty ward and serious cases are immediately operated in the operating room.

HOSPITAL
A general hospital is usually divided into 2 parts, an outpatient department and an inpatient department. The outpatient department has a number of surgeries and consulting rooms, waiting rooms, a filling cabinet where records are kept, laboratories and X-ray units. The basic component unit of the impatient department is called the ward where patients are admitted for treatment. A ward unit consists of rooms for patients, a treatment room, sister’s room, bathroom and lavatories; there may also be an admission room, a kitchenette, a small laboratory. In charge of each ward is the ward sister, who is responsible to the head nurse and to the medical staff, and is assisted by the rest of the nursing staff/staff nurses, probationer nurses, and auxiliary nurses. A large hospital consists of inpatient departments of medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, specialized departments covering infectious diseases, diseases of the chest, neurology, psychiatry, ophthalmology, and orthopedic surgery. Outpatient services are provided by the departments of anesthesiology, an x-ray department, a blood transfusion centre, a rehabilitation centre, and specialized laboratories, e.g. a pathology laboratory. There are also departments of stomatology, forensics medicine, pediatrics surgery, occupational diseases, a tissue bank, a flying squad, etc. The patients are seen daily by the medical staff, led by the head physician, usually during the morning ward round. Operations are performed in the operating theatre.

Medical care in Slovakia
Although medical care in our country is basically free of charge, the government encourages all citizens to be responsible for their health and gas introduced a system in which the patient partly shares the cost of some treatment and medicine.
According to the law, all citizens are covered by health insurance. Though there are several health insurance companies, state and private, most people belong to General Health Insurance Company. The Health Insurance System is currently undergoing some changes. Employers pay health insurance for their employees but private persons must pay for their insurance themselves while the state pays the insurance for children or retired people. There are some people who draw disability pension.

Healthy lifestyle
In recent years, people in many counties have become more concerned about their health. They care very much about the food they eat and are interested in the effect it has on their health. Many people have reduced he amount of salt, fat, and sugar they eat in order to lose weight, lower their cholesterol, and reduce their risk of getting heart disease. And many people exercise to stay healthy.
Many people, especially women, go on diets regularly. They eat less than usual in order to become thinner. Some do this because they think they will look more attractive, others do it because of health problems. There are many health programmes and diet plans which are advertised regularly in magazines and on TV.
A healthy lifestyle (regular exercise, plenty of rest, enough sleep, good eating habits, a lot of vitamins, no smoking or alcohol), prevention and personal responsibility for our health can help us avoid possible dangers like infectious disease, heart attacks and brain damage. We need to go to the doctor for check-ups, get eye exams done, weigh ourselves regularly, and see the dentist twice a year. Many people care about their health and never forget to clean their teeth, do breathing exercises, go for a run, take vitamin pills, have a massage, and have a sauna or a steam bath. Others need to learn that if they don’t take care of themselves now, they may not be around later.