Comparing Hospitals Around the World
if you had to guess how many hospitals would you say there were in the entire world considering there are more than 7.7 billion people on earth you might be thinking something high like 500 000 750 000 maybe even a million i know i was but according to records it's estimated that there are only about a hundred thousand hospitals operating worldwide presently while that's not many the level of care that each of them provides varies wildly depending on the country they're in and the healthcare systems they depend on from the food they serve to the cost of an operation it's time to compare different hospitals and healthcare standards around the world base cost now nothing in life is free and that's especially true in the case of health care even in countries with universal health care where everyone has access to medical attention it's a system that's funded through taxes compulsory insurance or a similar initiative that doesn't leave people out of pocket but they can also support private health care insurances so they can elect to pay more for more comfortable medical experiences these countries include canada australia russia almost all of south america and europe the uk china man believe it or not north korea to name but a few countries without a universal health care system usually rely on insurance based operatives where individuals are responsible for taking out private health insurance which can also be provided through their jobs or the government if not you generally have no choice but to pay up front countries that rely on this method include indonesia thailand afghanistan suriname and most famously the united states the only wealthy industrialized nation which doesn't utilize universal health care the main argument against the implementation of universal health care is that it would essentially require healthy people to pay for the medical care of unhealthy people this apparently goes against the american values of individual choice and personal responsibility as such an individual in america pays seven thousand four hundred seventy dollars per year for health insurance on average in canada the amount the government spends on health care per person is about three thousand four hundred fifty in the uk it's roughly 3240. in japan it's about 3600. in fact the closest any other universal healthcare dependent nation comes to the usa's spend is germany at just over five thousand fifty-five dollars which is still a whole third less well let's see what all that cold hard cash actually buys when you need it most rooms and conditions now considering the different ways healthcare is funded the state of hospital rooms and resources can vary vastly from one part of the world to another in sierra leone like in america healthcare is not free and the entire industry is notoriously underfunded it was so ill-equipped to deal with the 2014 ebola epidemic that it needed outside volunteers to help and provide more training the lack of resources in the cannot hospital one of the more well-funded hospitals is still clear though all wards here are communal with up to 50 patients waiting to be treated in each though it's regularly overcrowded there's limited equipment basic medicines and even doctors with only one full-time doctor assigned to the intensive care ward all of which the patient has to pay for up front what the wards do seem to have plenty of for free though is mosquito nets to help prevent patients from catching malaria while they're prone over in north korea the situation isn't much better though the country claims to have a universal healthcare system in place witness testimonies paint a different picture defectors from this militaristic dictatorship claim the free healthcare policy applies only to the uppermost classes living in pyongyang most north korean citizens find themselves having to pay for medical procedures as well as the medical instruments and medications needed like in sierra leone to make this even worse they report that most hospitals have no heating or electricity it's believed that since the kovid pandemic which ceased almost all trade in the hermit kingdom health-related spending plummeted even further it's currently unknown what the state of the medical system is but experts believe for the majority of the 25 million strong population it's not good news over the sea in japan things couldn't be more different if they tried the government and employers pay for the majority of medical costs while patients pay up to 30 percent with all japanese residents required by law to have health insurance however all medical fees are strictly regulated by the government to keep them affordable anyone too poor to afford insurance has their tab picked up by the government thanks to this law japanese citizens go to the doctors on average three times more than their american counterparts and it's not hard to see why private rooms like this at the university of tokyo are over 1600 square feet in size have three tvs a compact kitchen two toilets and a full drawing room the cost 231 000 yen per day however paying just 30 percent means it's only 69 300 yen a day which is a little over 530 bucks that sounds pretty expensive but it's just the tip of the iceberg until recently tokyo's mizuguchi hospital technically a gynecology clinic offered pregnant women the opportunity to give birth in a luxury chamber decked out with the finest furnishings and luxuries new mothers would be treated to a celebration dinner and afternoon tea after delivering their bundle of joy the cost well just 75 000 a night forget a silver spoon those babies will have been born with the entire silverware set in their mouths over in dubai one type of luxury simply isn't enough at their most luxurious hospitals can offer two high-end private room types vip and royal the vip rooms at city hospital for example look more like luxury apartments centered around medical beds multiple tvs oak veneer panels and a state-of-the-art technology maul for a wallet-busting 9300 emirati duram some 2 500 per night however the royal suite at the same hospital with private entrances exits and 3 800 square feet can't be bought according to reports it's only available to members of the country's ruling family now that's what you call an exclusive room so how does america measure up well the country has some of the most high-tech hospitals in the world like kaiser permanente san diego medical center private rooms here are modern and clean while the hospital itself is home to some of the most advanced medical technology and highly trained staff in the world so how much to stay here well costs depend on the patient's diagnosis but a private room here starts at forty four hundred dollars per night which can rocket up to six thousand dollars though these costs can be reduced to a third if they're paid in cash and that's just for the room no medical services included for perspective even the cheapest private room option here is about a thousand dollars more expensive than a night in a ritz carlton hotel for that price i really hope kaiser permanente delivers a five-star service you know it doesn't cost a penny though heading those like and subscribe buttons down below and if you have a healthcare story let me know down in the comments all done great what are we comparing next child birth so with the base cost systems established in your mind let me ask you this how much do you think it costs to have a baby in a hospital in some of these countries let's start in the uk a country very proud of their nhs or national health service this universal health care covers the cost of any public hospital necessity so it's completely free to have the baby delivered in a public hospital the level of care the nhs affords is also quite high with the maternal mortality rate that's the ratio of new mother deaths relative to the number of live births currently at just 9 per 100 000 births if a mother to be decides she wants to give birth in a private hospital though for more personalized care lower wait times and hotel style service costs suddenly increased to an average of 5850 pounds some 7 160 dollars per night and that's not including any of the additional fees for staff like anesthetists and obstetricians it's a similar situation in china where the costs of giving birth in a public hospital are usually covered by state insurance however in the most populous country in the world resources are tight and many expectant chinese mothers are turning to private clinics which can charge more than one hundred thousand yuan some fifteen thousand seven hundred dollars in terms of the maternal mortality rate ratio though this currently sits at 18 deaths per 100 000 live births twice that of the uk in saudi arabia it's a similar deal public hospitals are free to saudi citizens but foreigners and expats need insurance if they plan on giving birth in the country otherwise they could face an out-of-pocket delivery charge of more than 5 000 saudi riyals some 1 300 that may sound kind of expensive for a public hospital but saudi arabia does boast an impressively low maternal mortality ratio of just 7 per 100 000 births and thanks to the norms set in this country some insurers will offer to cover expenses like ear piercing for baby girls sweet free baby bling okay so how does america measure up well not great the average cost of having a baby starts at ten thousand eight hundred dollars and shockingly that's without any complications and with insurance depending on the hospital in question though prices can vary wildly because it's the hospital that sets the prices on the care they provide the cheapest delivery with insurance can be found in alabama which costs roughly five thousand two hundred thirty bucks to deliver naturally if you don't have insurance the last place you want to be is alaska because for a natural birth they'll charge an unreal twenty thousand two hundred dollars on average and for a c-section that shoots up to twenty eight thousand six hundred dollars jeez louise and remember this is all just to deliver the baby literally if you want to hold your baby after you've spent nine months carrying them inside of you you can expect a skin to skin charge of about 40 bucks on your itemized hospital bill well for that amount at least the care they're providing for will mean the maternal mortality rate will be really low right right dead wrong at about 24 deaths per hundred thousand live birds the usa categorically has the worst ratio among all developed industrialized countries this is because the u.s has an overall
shortage of maternity care providers such as midwives and obstetricians relative to the number of births at just 12 per 1000 live births in almost every other wealthy industrialized country aside from canada this number is two to six times greater mama and while that sounds bad it could be much worse over in south sudan the maternal mortality rate is the worst in the entire world with a staggering 789 per 100 000 live births ending fatally for the mother this is because 67 out of south sudan's 79 counties have inadequate or no healthcare services at all due to dilapidated structures outdated equipment and a closure of healthcare facilities presently the maternity clinic at juba teaching hospital the only referral hospital in a country with a population of more than 10.1 million has fewer than 50 beds the hospital provides care for free but power cuts are frequent and resources medicine and trained medical attendance are scarce it's probably no surprise then that around 90 percent of pregnant women in south sudan deliver it home and while south sudan's position isn't enviable norway's definitely is with just two fatalities per hundred thousand live births norway has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world and how much do you have to pay for this clearly excellent care well alongside public health care being free new parents are actually paid to have babies it's called berntiget or child benefit which most new norwegian parents are entitled to whether the child was born to them or adopted they can opt to receive a lump sum of 90 300 norwegian crone per child around 9 200 this helps cover some of the expenses of having a new child ensuring a better quality of life for the family but support doesn't stop there as the parents are then entitled to receive small monthly payments of around a hundred and forty dollars until the child turns eighteen but this isn't unique to norway france sweden spain italy and several others all offer grants and monthly payments to new parents to encourage them to have children so that their country's respective birth rates don't drop uh anyone know how you apply for european citizenship heart surgery every year it's estimated that more than 1 million people undergo heart surgery this is usually to treat heart valves such as a narrowing of the valve due to heart disease or a leak in the valve that allows the blood to flow backwards these are pretty essential procedures but elements of them can vary around the world namely the price let's start in russia with the way their universal health care works any valve surgery pre-planned or emergency is free to russian citizens however russia is open to privately insured medical care or medical tourism where tourists visit the country with the express need of getting treatment done treatments are priced on complexity with some bypass surgery reaching 340 thousand rupals in price a little over two hundred dollars in the uk like russia surgery like this is free but it still has a cost for all the doctors and equipment required to carry out the very complex heart surgeries it costs an average of 22 900 pounds per patient a little over 28 500 and none of this is paid out of pocket the only payment taken is the funding they provide in their taxes japan's public private healthcare blend means emergency heart surgeries of this nature can be billed at more than 7 million yen some 54 000 but thanks to varying degrees of patient coverage schemes japan runs most won't pay more than 30 percent of that and for more expensive procedures there are certain limits on what someone can pay ensuring they don't go bankrupt from a hospital visit all right how about the u.s well emergency heart surgery should be covered by most insurance packages however there's always the possibility that you might be treated by an out-of-network doctor in the emergency room hospitals might contract in doctors that don't work for your insurance company if that's the case and you don't get a chance to ask are you in my network the insurance company might charge you the full amount in that situation you could be staring down the barrel of a bill that adds up to an incomprehensible two hundred thousand dollars oh god i think i'm having a heart attack quick someone call an ambulance ambulances now if you live outside the u.s you might be surprised to learn that yes americans have to pay for the ambulances they call out and americans you might be surprised to learn that in most other nations ambulance services are almost always free to call but free doesn't always mean better in the uk all nhs ambulance services are free including air ambulance call outs however the current wait time for an urgent but not an emergency or life-threatening injury sits around three and a half hours this comes down to an increased demand and a lack of available beds in hospitals tying up valuable ambulance services in erqs sometimes for hours over in hong kong which at the time i'm recording this is currently under lockdown regulations ambulances are also free but there have been wait times reportedly stretching up to 39 hours again the state-funded system is stretched to its brink leaving many that need care waiting for it to arrive in india while the public hospital system is free for the majority of residents there's only about 26 000 ambulances available for the 1.38 billion people in the country
that's one ambulance for every 53 000 people as such private ambulance drivers can legally charge 1500 rupees about 20 dollars for the first 10 kilometers of a journey and then 100 rupees about 1.29 for every kilometer after that in canada which relies on a publicly funded system called canadian medicare ambulances are effectively free in some provinces but not in others in quebec for example the cost of ambulance transportation is 125 plus a dollar 75 per kilometer traveled to the hospital this base fee increases to 400 for foreigners however these costs can be waived if the individual was injured in a road accident was being transported between institutions or has received income security benefits in ontario the bill is 45 but if the trip is deemed medically unnecessary patients can be slapped with a bill of up to 240 dollars for wasting resources in germany public ambulances are free for citizens but if a foreigner finds themselves in need of an ambulance they won't usually be charged more than ten dollars thanks to germany's world-class health care system which absorbs the majority of the costs in the united arab emirates healthcare isn't free and insurance is mandatory with citizens expected to have their health cards on them at all times in case of an emergency this is because ambulance costs alone can vary from 600 to 1200 dirhams that's roughly 150 to 330. however the call volume to the national ambulance service has almost tripled in the last two years with just 60 percent of calls now warranting an ambulance dispatch and in america for a ground ambulance the costs can be up to twelve hundred dollars for an air ambulance twenty thousand dollars but insurance should cover it right well in a recent study it was revealed seventy two percent of patients ambulance providers don't take their insurance because the provider itself isn't in network when ambulances aren't in network they can charge whatever they see fit and insurance is not always obligated to pay those charges in full this leaves around 79 of those calling an ambulance with a surprise bill amounting to an average of 550 something tells me it won't be too long before uber starts offering ambulance rides in its app technology while no number of machines and robotics can make up for good bedside manner and well-trained doctors advanced technology can go a long way when it comes to medical treatment the university of tokyo hospital for example is constantly pushing the boundaries on the use of robotics from testing robotic systems designed for pinpoint precision operations such as neurosurgery to using ultra realistic lifelike robots that move and respond to pain to train dentistry students the latter may look a little creepy but they teach students how to interact with the patient rather than just seeing them as a set of teeth over in america's mayo clinic and some of the uk's nhs centers cancer treatment is taken to the next level with photon beam therapy it directs an intense beam of radiation into tumors in the body instead of subjecting the entire body to damaging chemotherapy effects it's incredibly effective for a small subset of people and as a bonus it utilizes technology that sounds like it's been plucked out a star trek in the uk surgery simulators are being put to the test to help train the muscle memory of soon-to-be surgeons along with life-saving decision-making skills they'll need in a virtual environment i just hope they don't confuse that program with the vr game surgeon simulator 2.
compared to all these advancements north korea's hospitals look like time capsules the last real investment the government made into healthcare was back in the 1970s and it really shows the majority of equipment has been donated by their allies like russia and china but is predominantly outdated maternity wards in pyongyang's hospital demonstrate this with many of them still using incubators that look like they're 20 years old no wait i take that back that's an atom v75 incubator from 1975. so these hospitals are literally using 50-year-old machines and this is from north korea's most modern facility yikes food hospital food is universally slammed as some of the worst sustenance on the planet next to school meals and prison rations but the quality of what you're served and even the basics can vary from hospital to hospital let's start in hungary where ironically it looks like the patients here might actually be going hungry this is apparently breakfast a piece of bread a spring onion and a yogurt dip while onion and cream roll-ups are a delicacy in hungary this portion sizing seems a little sparse in my opinion however another photo of hospital food confirms that small portion sizes are how hungarian hospitals do breakfast that's two sausages a slice of bread and a literal jug of tea but wait a second those aren't sausages those are little crescent-shaped bread rolls so this is a breakfast of bread bread and bread maybe it's a hint that they want the patients to leave i thought this sort of breakfast might be a one-off but it turns out it's a similar story over in poland bread butter half a tomato and a cream-based dip well you can't deny its nutritionally balanced i'm feeling hungry just looking at this let's head east for a moment and look at breakfast from a typical hospital in guangdong china while it may be a little dry this looks delicious pancakes a pork bun and soy milk but it's not like this every day the same hospital also served up this breakfast a banana a boiled egg plum pastry and soy milk they do say variety is important but i think i preferred breakfast number one okay let's move on to lunch and where better to start than germany oh plenty of other places it would seem apparently this is an italian potato omelet not quite sure what's italian about burned peas burned egg and uh weird little potato cubes it seems like it might have been a one-off with the majority of german hospital meals relying on staples of meats cheese vegetables breads and fruit very colorful austria seems to have gotten the color memo but not the consistency mystery swirled green puree what looks like mashed potato and a crime scene the weird pink cube apparently had the texture of a moose so i'm afraid to theorize what the consistency of the red sauce there might have been although i bet this super soft meal was prepared as part of a specific dietary requirement possibly for someone with no teeth or taste buds now if we head down to australia it doesn't get much better back in 2019 south australia's flinders medical center received more than 600 complaints about the food and you can see why from whole meals consisting of one chicken slice to a bizarrely bland plate the hospital definitely deserved all those complaints in my opinion over the border in victoria though malvern cabrini hospital is serving up gourmet meals there's variety there's color and the presentation is hard to believe hang on why is the difference so huge well australia provides medicare to all citizens but also supports private health care via insurance operatives flinders is a public hospital whereas cabrini is private hence the huge hike in standards it could be worse though it could be russia is that pasta noodles with mystery meat no sauce no cheese nothing my mouth feels dry just looking at this a relatively standard russian menu places emphasis on energy so protein and carbohydrate-rich foods like porridge potatoes and cheese are commonplace mmm delicious beige but for all the shade i threw at russia not even their worst can compare to some of america's tomfoolery this pitiful plate was apparently served up to a proud new mother in the usa three stems of broccoli a potato and is that a lump of charcoal nope it's a it's a steak very well done well if that looked tough to swallow look away now apparently this patient had no teeth and so needed soft food they could easily munch on while i can appreciate the effort that went into skinning the apple did they really have to serve them ominously unseasoned soupy mushy meat pellets looks like something i'd feed my rabbit rather than my grandma at least the portions were there unlike this poor patient's meager meal from an unnamed hospital in beverly hills did someone really try to make those two sad looking sausages fancy by adding garnish well it's not exactly surprising like all the other aspects of health care in america the meals are paid for by the insurance companies most meals are required to meet a stringent set of nutritional guidelines corners can be cut leading to plenty of processed foods and cheap carbohydrates being served to patients to preserve profits nowhere is that more evident than in new york where the food is apparently pulverized onto patients plates now you might not think it looks that bad but those peas are actually pureed broccoli over in japan though their hospital menus couldn't look tastier if they tried the combination of private public funding of the hospitals allow registered dietitians to prepare menus depending on the patient's conditions those in maternity wards are given a variety of nutritious foods packed with multiple vegetables fruits and clean proteins rice is served quite traditionally with almost every meal other patients receive a similar spread reliant on rice but supplemented by fish seafood plenty of vegetables soup and tea man if i was hospitalized here i'm not sure i'd ever want to leave which country do you think has the best hospitals and healthcare and which would you least like to be hospitalized in let me know down in the comments below and thanks for watching
2022-08-07 08:47
