What I presumed and expected of a straight forward procedure turned out to be an expensive one.
My adventurous daughter had already booked for her holiday in Kenya and Tanzania which requires Yellow fever inoculation. Couple of months ago, she checked while abroad and I confirmed by phone locally that it could be done without appointment, during office hours, at the local health centre in Silibin/Jelapang, Ipoh (though according to a website, it was stated as available in Batu Gajah).
I had been to Jelapang health centre before and it was our first place of call, half expecting to be directed to another place under Silibin. But upon enquiry at the registration counter, we were directed to the back of the building. We were pleased initially, not having to go somewhere else, but only to be told that they had run out of stock since Hari Raya! When asked where else, the man said even KL also out of stock, Penang might have. The fact that we just came back from Penang, after fetching Cheng from Butterworth train station yesterday really made us more frustrated upon hearing it. We were advised to go to BP Lab, but it would cost much more. We called up Ipoh Specialists Centre for price comparison but they did not have stock too. We did not have any choice, knowing that Cheng will be leaving for Holland in two days time and her air tickets to Africa already booked for 2 weeks later.
I can understand why the law of supply and demand and the market forces ensured that vaccines (at Rm10) in public hospitals would run out quickly while commercial labs are likely to have stock because it costs Rm400 per jab! To console ourselves, Cheng reasoned that we should think in terms of the inoculation lasting 10 years, so it is actually only Rm40 per year, and joked that she will make sure she travels to those yellow fever infected countries more to make up for it!
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My adventurous daughter had already booked for her holiday in Kenya and Tanzania which requires Yellow fever inoculation. Couple of months ago, she checked while abroad and I confirmed by phone locally that it could be done without appointment, during office hours, at the local health centre in Silibin/Jelapang, Ipoh (though according to a website, it was stated as available in Batu Gajah).
I had been to Jelapang health centre before and it was our first place of call, half expecting to be directed to another place under Silibin. But upon enquiry at the registration counter, we were directed to the back of the building. We were pleased initially, not having to go somewhere else, but only to be told that they had run out of stock since Hari Raya! When asked where else, the man said even KL also out of stock, Penang might have. The fact that we just came back from Penang, after fetching Cheng from Butterworth train station yesterday really made us more frustrated upon hearing it. We were advised to go to BP Lab, but it would cost much more. We called up Ipoh Specialists Centre for price comparison but they did not have stock too. We did not have any choice, knowing that Cheng will be leaving for Holland in two days time and her air tickets to Africa already booked for 2 weeks later.
I can understand why the law of supply and demand and the market forces ensured that vaccines (at Rm10) in public hospitals would run out quickly while commercial labs are likely to have stock because it costs Rm400 per jab! To console ourselves, Cheng reasoned that we should think in terms of the inoculation lasting 10 years, so it is actually only Rm40 per year, and joked that she will make sure she travels to those yellow fever infected countries more to make up for it!
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