I get to know some interesting facts from my pharmacist colleague few days back, regarding how drugs or medicine were dispensed in the early days (in the early 70's) when she just started her career as pharmacist in hospital. During those days, empty containers or bottles for cream/ointment or solutions/syrup/liquid prescription were not available or supplied by the pharmacy in hospital. Patients had to bring their own containers.
1. Cream and Ointment will be placed on banana leaves and wrapped up or folded prior to dispensed to patients.
2. For solutions/liquid/syrups (eg cough syrups), patients had to buy empty bottle containers from the nearby shop (eg. those empty coca cola or F&N bottles) and placed the empty bottles at the dispensary counter for the pharmacist to pour in the solution/liquid/syrup.
3. The most interesting one is regarding eye drops. I can't imagine and can't believe this actually happened in the past. The solution for eye drops was poured inside the empty bottles bought from the nearby shop (and sometimes those patients will buy big bottle for just few mls of eye drops as small bottles were not available). Flexible plastic dropper bottles are not available in the past. And here comes the most interesting part - regarding how the eye drops are instilled or applied to the eyes ...
What the patients used to instill or to apply the eye drops? (Forget about the eye drop droppers which were not available during those days).
Wanna make a wild guess ?
Straws !! Those drinking straws !!!!!
Patients used those drinking straws to draw the eye drops from the bottle and to instill the eye drop to their eyes !!
I really get a shock. Can u imagine that ? Forget about sterility and hygiene.... I wonder what was the rate of infection during those days..
These are some of the PRICELESS info I gathered from my colleague.
Consider ourselves blessed with the advancement in medical practice and health care. And never take things for granted :)
oh dear.. am really gonna start counting my blessings now for all the advancement.. scary info..
ReplyDeletehmmm, can we drink those eyedrops too?
ReplyDelete*hands out banana leaves*
My guess was:
ReplyDeletePlace the eye onto the top of the bottle, and then tilt head back, and shake the head viguourly around a bit with the bottle stuck to the eye... No? Cannot? Faint?
I dare not imagine what was used to pump out their gut when one suffered from food poisoning those days.
ReplyDeleteyenchiew,
ReplyDeleteI get to know about several other interesting medical facts too from my colleagues who did their undergraduate medical degrees in India :)
may,
*Gasp*
*Swallow saliva*
No no no no noooooooooooooo...
pls pls pls don't do that...
i dowan to do gastric lavage for u leh :P
LB,
Wah.. clever lah u :D
but hoh..
how about if the bottle later on stuck to the eye & cannot be removed??
jialat kaw kaw liao...
LOL
cocka,
Mmmmm.... I know in certain hospitals in India, the junior doctors do suctioning and sucking out secretions from the nasal cavities and the throat of the newborns using their mouth :P
Yucks... How I know? My colleagues who did their undergraduate medical degrees in India told me the stories :D
wow. to be respected how those docs in india are coping. but then again, everything around certain areas are so lacking, it becomes a norm, and not so unexpected.
ReplyDeleteanother thing i respect since i was a teen, the medicins sans frontiers (sp), it is so noble ya?
olden days, the children rough and tough. got mosquito bites all over, just put tiger balm or wash dettol. now, i encounter taxi drivers who tell me they see mothers packing their kids to specialists when they get mosquito bites. similarly, olden days, our immunity system seems stronger. now, apa apa pun boleh sick and relapse easily. air, water, food, all polluted.
aiya nth lar....small matter only...c ah nel stil living til today... ;)
ReplyDeletemisti,
ReplyDeletenowadays parents are very concern about their kids, not like our old days.. Yeah, kids of yester-years have better immunity cos of the exposure :)
And we do enjoy ourselves with the outdoor activities ;)
ah nel,
Hah? u still living & alive ah? :O
u mentioned many times in other's blog that u r now in hell liao ??
and asking them to burn money & other stuff for u?
now i'm confused...........
i know..
u r telling lies again :D
catcha !!
and last time, they don't use disposable hypodermic needles/syringes. sei mou?
ReplyDeleteThat's why people in emerging countries and in the old days have better body immunity vs diseases.
ReplyDeleteyeah, medical technology has evolve over the past years...we should be thankful for all the advanced equipments we have these days...thinking back it was kinda scary...gerori~
ReplyDeleteNow I know straws have multiple uses, not just for drinking!
ReplyDeleteyay~ i guessed the straw correctly~ :D
ReplyDeleteThe bottle stuck to the eye not so bad.. It's when the eye drops into the bottle and gets stuck in there lagi mafan.. hor?
ReplyDeleteerr.. that time straw invented oredi ke?
ReplyDeleteHere's a comment for the time capsule:
ReplyDeleteIn thirty years' time, chen junior will be "mind-casting" about the "soooo outdated can die" things we're doing now ;-)
No need to write blogs anymore.. just "mind-cast".
errr... I need MC... 2 days please, tenkiu...
ReplyDeletenyonya pg,
ReplyDeleteyeah loh.. last time they just “sterilized” the needles in boiling water.. that’s all.
Err… to save cost, some GP clinics still reuse the syringe over & over again leh, but they do dispose the needle
(I hope so they really dispose the needle :P)
daniel,
yeah, they have better immunity, but there are higher morbidity and mortality too from wound infection & wound breakdown :)
There are pros and contras :)
monkticon,
And remember those days of sharing needles when disposable needles are still not yet available in the market :)
justme,
ReplyDeletehahaa.. besides that, straws can be used in fighting too, like what another blogger, ah ben used to do :P
ben,
u so clever geh :D
but too bad no prize woh for the correct guess :P
LB,
wah wah wah…
sounds like watching horror movie now..
*scared*
*biting finger nails*
later tonight have nightmare then how?????
sengkor,
got liao leh..
long long time ago straw was invented liao…
during our great great grandparents day :)
we talk a little bit about history today..
The modern drinking straw was patented in way back in 1888 :P
Bernard,
ReplyDeleteHahhaa.. kids of yesteryears, kids of today and kids in the future…
At times, I wonder how many city kids have seen the real alive chicken :P
angel,
MC = Master of Ceremonies ah?
U want to become MC for 2 days ah?
MC to welcome me for the coming trip to KL issit?
Thank U, thank u very much :D
LOL
SA,
yeah, I’m happy with all the development and advancement in the modern world compared to yesteryears.
Can’t imagine life using kerosene lamp and drinking water from pail or river…
No electricity, no proper water supply…
And forget about computer and internet :P
Those were the days….
ahhh...Lokter! ya hor...as much as I wanted to meet u up...but i cannot! my company annual dinner is on the same day of the meetup...*sighs*
ReplyDelete*pengsan* I used to be in Ophthalmic sales..but hey whatever worked right?
ReplyDeleteliving in hell oso called alive wad...if no how come we will be disturb by ghost ler... ;)
ReplyDelete*shock*
ReplyDeletemonkticon,
ReplyDeletetoo bad...
but never mind lah..
there is always next time.. :)
FF,
proven u are still young :P
hehheheh..
worked or not.. i dunno leh..
have to interview the grandpa or grandma liao..
ah nel,
wah.. u live in hell also disturb by ghost? Then u must be big mouth go & disturb other ghosts, else ghost won't disturb u wan..
butt,
shake-shake butt..
come back to reality.. :P
canggih...hee i will ask papa tomolo whether he knows how to apply the eyedrops using straw not ;p
ReplyDeletelong time no sing here liao...
Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight
Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
nitenite loctor. how come we switch bedtime timings huh?
ReplyDeleteSTRAW?! Omg, that's gross.
ReplyDeleteAnd from today onwards I'm gonna look twice at the straw before using it. Yucks.
i read kali ketiga :D
ReplyDeleteoh, hari ini dalam sejarah? or did-you-know? session. heh e..
don't know doctor also can give history class, besides bio lesson :P
of course, besides sotong piaking, photo taking, pet keeping and full time blogging...today doctor is 劲！
i memang big mouth and can swallow ah boy... :D
ReplyDeleteRed sponge,
ReplyDeletehave u asked your papa or your mama or your kong kong or your poh poh? :)
LOL
almost forget about the carolling liao, after so long hoh?
Thanks :)
misti,
mmmm... I sleep early yesterday night leh.. around 11 pm kua.. but definitely before 12 midnight :P
DD,
But it is amazing also lah how they derive the idea ;)
carcar,
LOL... Finally u understand what I write? :P Talking about DYK, yeah hoh.. Angel hasn't tok abt DYK for long time liao... she used to say tat very frequent in the past :)
wanna have more history class? But i scared u might doze off or pancing-ikan half way :P
big mouth nel,
your mouth is so big that u can swallow yourself too? :)