Indian Mother in New Zealand Waits a Week for Doctor as Child Coughs for 10 Days
Synopsis
An Indian woman in New Zealand highlighted healthcare access issues after struggling to find a doctor for her sick child. Her local medical centre offered an appointment a week away, and a walk-in clinic was at full capacity.
An Indian woman living in New Zealand has sparked an online conversation about healthcare access after struggling to find a doctor for her sick child. Akriti Jaiswal Srivastava shared a video on Instagram explaining how her child, Kevith, had been coughing for 10 days without improvement, but the earliest appointment available at her local medical centre was a week away.
Srivastava said she contacted the medical centre on a Thursday hoping to get her child checked. However, she was told there were no appointments available for a week, leaving her with an appointment for the following Wednesday. She initially decided to wait and see whether her child’s condition improved, noting that she felt doctors in New Zealand generally do not prescribe medicines as readily as doctors might in India.
“I thought, okay, let’s wait and see if it gets better on its own,” she said.
Check the viral video here:
After-Hours Clinic Also Turns Her Away
After waiting for 10 days, Srivastava decided she could not wait any longer and took her child to an after-hours clinic, where walk-in patients are generally seen. However, she found that the clinic was already overcrowded and had reached capacity.
A notice outside the clinic stated: “We are sorry but we are at capacity and unable to take any more patients tonight.”
Sharing the situation in her video, Srivastava said, “Just imagine, it was so overcrowded here too,” while explaining how difficult it could be for parents trying to access medical care for an unwell child.
‘It’s Not Like That Here’: Mother Compares India, NZ Healthcare
The experience also changed how Srivastava viewed healthcare access in India. While acknowledging New Zealand as a developed country, she said the ease of seeing a doctor in India was something she appreciated more after the experience.
“In India, you can go to a hospital or clinic immediately, see a doctor right away, and everything gets sorted quickly,” she said. “But it’s not like that here.”
Her video prompted others to share their own experiences of navigating healthcare systems abroad. One user recalled waiting more than five and a half hours in London for a brief medical consultation.
For Srivastava, the experience highlighted a concern familiar to many parents: being able to access a doctor promptly when a child is unwell. The video has since sparked a wider discussion online about healthcare accessibility, waiting times and the differences between medical systems in India and other countries.