A visit to the hospital

Health care is free in Mauritius. Mauritians, however, seem to have mixed feeling about the quality of the free health care. Most who can afford to do so choose to go to the private clinics instead of the public hospitals. They believe that by paying, you see better doctors and receive higher quality care. There are some exceptions. For instance, hospitals are better equipped to deal with major heart problems. As I'm not really in a position to critique the entire system, I will simply tell you my experience:
About four weeks ago I dropped a diving weight on my this-little-piggy-ate-none toe. Really, I swear it wasn't my fault, but don't worry, there will be plenty of time for judging my common sense later in the story. The toe was really hurting and wouldn't bend. But my parents were coming the next day and I had made lots of plans and hate going to the hospital so I decided the best thing to do was to clean it up and tape it to my middle toe. I figured worse case scenario was that I broke it and since there is nothing to be done for a broken toe I decided it wasn't worth spending hours and hours at a hospital just for a doctor to tell me to tape my toes together. So, fast forward four weeks. My toe still won't bend. I've been taping it but have also been continuing to dive, swim, walk around, etc. The knuckle that the weight dropped on looks flat and slightly out of place. So, I finally decide it's time to see a doctor. My worry now is that it was broken but healed wrong and that when I get to the hospital they are going to have to re-break it and start over. As the true American I am, I find my insurance card, pack a book and some homework, bring my ipod and head to the hospital. My roommate and boyfriend assure me that the insurance card is very unnecessary but I figure it's good to be safe.
8:30: arrive
8:40: called into back, take a seat outside the examining room
8:45: baby throws up in the hall
8:46: see doctor, explain my stupidity, doctor looks at my toe and says it doesn't look good, doctor agrees that I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, gives me a form and sends me over to x-ray
8:50: baby throw up is being cleaned. hand form to x-ray desk
8:54: go in for x-rays
8:56: out of x-ray room, wait for x-rays
9:03: bring x-rays to doctor. same room, but new doctor
9:06: look at x-rays. my toe is not broken and I shouldn't have been taping it. probably why it won't bend. told to come to physical therapy tomorrow and written prescription for pain killers
9:14: receive medication from Medical counter
9:15: leave

Not only useful and efficient but entirely free. Now, for the cynics, I can't say Mr. Clean would have crossed his arms and nodded his head in approval and it smelled a bit like Men's Central Jail. But, the lines kept moving and the doctors seemed knowledgeable. I couldn't believe how quickly we were in and out and the fact that I saw a doctor, had x-rays and was given medicine with no mention of cost and no lengthy forms to fill out. They didn't even ask for an ID and it made no difference that I'm not Mauritian. I cannot say that if I had had a more serious injury, or been at a different hospital or come at a different time of day or any number of other things, that it would have been such a positive experience. All I can say is that maybe America has a thing or two to learn from the so called developing world.