Best health system in the world?

Yes, that’s me laying on the radiation machine at the Peter Mac Cancer Centre just about to be nuked from both above and below.

The green laser beams are aligned with inked tatoos that they put on you so that they can relocate you exactly each time you receive the treatment.  The alignment procedure takes about five minutes and the actual radiation is about five seconds top and bottom.  There is no feeling associated with the treatment – all you hear is the buzz of the monster machine.

After the top has been done, the whole machine pivots on the wall and can be directed throughout the full 360 degrees to get to the area to be treated. (see next photo)

This is one of six machines at the clinic that are in full use every day.  They have more machines at Box Hill, Monash and elsewhere that are kept just as busy.

And, you know, this treatment costs you nothing – as does the daily transport to and from the clinic by ambulance – or the accommodation required for your stay in the city.

Show me another country where terminal or chronic illness is treated by the government’s national health scheme without out-of-pocket costs to the patient.  A friend, who spent many years living in the US was telling me today that she was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack.  After an overnight stay and being told it was a false alarm, she was sent home with a bill for some thousands of dollars.