OT: @znarfier
You may be surprised to know it happens here also here:.
Dun sa clinic ng IME namin, and instructions are - "if we don't call you in <amount of time>, everything is OK. Don't call the clinic to follow-up test results, or to check if we have submitted them - we do not accept these calls." Walang notice, walang update. Sila ang tatawag, pag di sila tumawag, OK. Anak ng - anong klaseng assurance yun - paano kung di ko nasagot ang tawag? No news it literally good news ika nga. WTF?
So, after the time given (2 weeks), tinawagan kami - me findings na positive for HIV. So naturalmente - panic - Paano mangyayari yun - wala nakita sa unang IME namin (for a WP) sa Pinas and we know our health history from regular company APEs - negative! Only to find out na ang ginawa pala ng clinic (and most of them here) is the screening test only for antibodies/antigen, and not the confirmatory test. So go, gawin ang confirmatory test. Negative. All clear. Additional cost for the confirmatory test ($$) - di biru din yun (IME is not covered by health insurance in my province - another
).
Which we found out later, hindi nakaugalian/practice ng western clinics to do the confirmatory test in one sample. Unlike in what is commonly done sa ibang bansa, and sa IME sa Pinas - they do both tests immediately para conclusive ang test for HIV - if positive sa screening, gawin agad ang confirmatory test - then final results. Which I later learned na most of the time, maraming positive sa mga taga PH due to antigens na ang sintomas ay halos kapareho ng nga antibodies na nasa vaccines/immunization na ibinigay sa atin nung simula ng kabataan natin. False positive ika nga. Hindi rin kasi lahat ng tao rito nagpapa-vaccine - me mga ayaw, kaya di nila kultura na gawin ang confirmatory test ng HIV sa medical exams. Kaya malinis ang bloodwork namin sa Pinas all throughout, yet dito incomplete pala ang IME testing nila. Sinverguenza, tinamaan ng lintek, how shortsighted naman ng isang tinaguriang advanced country?
Just goes to show, it happens not onli in da PH. MHO
(apologies to sensitivities offended in this post - not intent on malice whatsover....)
