After the revolution and during the war with Iraq, I used to go to health centers as part of my job. Once in a Southern clinic, when I entered the clinic, the doctor was attending a patient. She had a baby in her arm, and a 5 years old boy on her side. I witnessed the following:
Doctor: Chieh! Cheteh!
Woman: Khanum doctor, my baby is not feeling good. She has fever, pain in the ear, and cries a lot.
While she was talking, the doctor wrote something on a paper, which later I found out it, was a prescription. As soon as the woman stopped talking, the doctor handed it to her.
Noticing that the woman does not leave, the doctor asked: Chieh, Cheteh!
The woman: Pointing to her son, khanum doctor my son has diarrhea, fever, and stomach pain.
Once again, the doctor was writing while the woman speaking, and gave her the prescription after she was quiet. I went to the doctor, and introduced myself, but she said: sorry, I do not speak Farsi.
I replied in Farsi, but you ask: Chieh, Cheteh!
She said I only know those words.
I said: How do you understand your patients if you do not know their language, and why you do not touch them?
She said: we have nothing here except penicillin, and saline solution. While they are talking, I may understand a word or two, so I only write one of these two.
I said: You can at least touch the child’s hand, check her pulse, and use your stethoscope to see if she has fever. You can also send them by a shuttle service, which is available between here and Firoozabadi Hospital, if they need more care.
She said: My husband and I have come from India to work in Iran for a couple of years, to save some money, and go to the USA! And we do not know anything around here.
I sent that woman with her children to Firoozabadi by shuttle for a better care.
P.S. During the war with Iraq, many of the Iranian doctors were sent to the war zone to help the wounded, and the government imported doctors from India, Philippine, etc.
