Bureau of Quarantine

Continuing my tour of Philippines governmental organizations I hit up the Bureau of Quarantine. I knew they wanted (amongst other tests) a blood test. I HATE having blood drawn with a passion. It is the worst medical procedure one can do to me. It is not the prick of the needle as much as the length of time the needle spends in my vein.

Knowing they would want blood, I optimistically brought copies of my blood chemistry from St. Luke's hoping they could use that and would not need a fresh sample. Unfortunately, it did not cover what they wanted. The requirement is a blood test for.....syphilis. Now I am not very hip on syphilis but I kind of thought this was not really around much any more and certainly not prolific enough to require a special test but apparently I am wrong. Luckily my veins did not behave so the doctor wound up pricking my finger instead and squeezing the blood out. Much much better. I love that doctor.

For a government office, the Bureau of Quarantine was really well organized. There was very little wait and everybody we encountered was very pleasant and knew what they were doing. Both of the physicians that were on staff were very nice and knowledgeable.

On a side note, randomly one of the restrictions for most extended visas here is epilepsy. Very bizarre to me because epilepsy is easily controlled with medication and not contagious. I cannot imagine why that is listed as one of the banned diseases unless it is a throwback to 50 years ago when people thought it was a sign of being possessed. I understand HIV/AIDS and even the syphilis (which can be passed on) but epilepsy?!?!? That is like banning diabetes or some other medical condition equally non contagious or dangerous to the general public.....