"Doctors" and Hospitals in Azerbaijan

I have to tell my stories about going to doctors in Az:
When I arrived in Baku, I had to do a health check-up to make sure I didn't bring any diseases with me and that I was healthy enough to work here. This initial doctors visit was a bit of a wake-up call to let me know that I would want to avoid going to any sort-of medical facility if I could. It was a pretty scary place and I am pretty sure that the needle they used to draw blood ... yeah, pretty sure it wasn't a brand new needle, but they stuck it in me when they had me distracted with a side conversation and my head was turned. Also, the doctors were all quite interesting. The female doctors wore formals and high heels and a lot of make-up all with their lab coats. The facilities and the doctors sort-of reminded me of some old scary movie where they take people in and sedate them to do whatever they will with them. It was an eery place. I had to see several doctors for all the tests they did. The doctors asked me (mostly through an interpreter colleague) about any health problems I had, so I told them about my migraines and whatever else. The doctors all laughed at me, because I guess it was weird for me to actually tell them what was wrong with me since this was for a job. Apparently, most people don't actually say when they have health issues, no matter what, so that they can keep their jobs. Then, it was great that the one doctor who spoke a little English told me several interesting things like that I'm a very nervous person, which he could tell the moment I walked in, so my arrythmia is caused by me being a nervous, stressed out person. Then he said that the reason I have health problems is because I'm not married. That was my favorite. I asked him if I heard him right and asked my interpreter to ask him if that is what he meant. He did. Altogether, it was a very interesting experience.
Then, I don't know what possessed me, ... well I was convinced to go to another doctor in November by a couple of colleagues. They somehow got out of me that I was going to go to a cardiologist when I got to the U.S. for a couple of reasons. So they convinced me that I would save a lot of money and that the doctors in Azerbaijan are "very good" and "very qualified" and that the brother-in-law of the one colleague could recommend a very good cardiologist. I basically went mostly to humor them, but I was the one who was humored, or you might use another word, in the end. I knew I would probably end up still going while I was in the U.S. So, the one colleague went with me to interpret. Our driver eventually found this compound, that seemed like a military facility, or well, a result of the Soviet regime. The location and the set of buildings from the outside were pretty frightening. Then, when I entered, I thought I had walked into some old Soviet horror movie again. I can only describe the hallways lined with people all wearing black coats, standing and filling the entire hallways on each of the floors all along the very long corridors. It felt like there were hundreds of people standing and waiting. They all looked so depressed and I wondered how long they would have to stand there and wait. I could barely move through the halls, and as you can imagine, I was quite the site apparently. Everyone stared at me wherever I went (which I'm used to, but this was a different type of stare). To make it even better, at least half of the people were smoking and once we found that we'd have to be waiting (when my colleague called the doctor on her cell to find out if he was there, which he wasn't for another hour), I asked her if we could at least try to find a window where we could stand and try to breathe in air from outside. So we found a window to stand next to where we were still surrounded by smokers and I went and stuck my head out the window. When I looked below, there was an entire awning completely covered with cigarette butts and packs and I quickly recalled where I was, a heart hospital!!! It all gets better. So when the doctor finally came, we were lucky to somehow be able to go in front of all of these people who were waiting immediately outside his office. However, all the nurses and people who had been waiting in his office stayed there! So this office was probably no bigger than 10 x 10 ft and there were two desks that completely filled the room by themselves. Yet, there was the doctor, three nurses, and about eight patients, my colleague and I. It became even better when he decided to examine me in front of everyone there ... no privacy whatsoever, wow! And of course not one person took their eyes off me the entire time. Then, whenever he asked questions, my colleague would explain whatever and then he would laugh and so would everyone else in the room. They all think I'm crazy! I guess I am crazy for letting them convince me to go! So he just kept telling me all of these things that really didn't make any sense from what I was asking my colleague to tell him. And then he ordered an ultrasound, so we went to another floor and I had an ultrasound. This doctor also found many occasions to laugh at me. Then! Yes, he said it too! "You have health problems because you are not married!" I laughed out loud in his face and shook my head and told him how ridiculous their conclusions are. So he proceeded to tell me all of the reasons he is a very qualified doctor and I couldn't help but laugh back at him. Then, we went back up to the other doctor who looked at my ultrasound and an EKG I had from the original health check-up and he decided to write me a prescription for my "neurosis" and something to make me "calm", because I'm obviously a very nervous person. I thought, okay here comes the sedation part that I imagined in these old psycho movies ... I think the movie I'm thinking of is called something "Green" and has to do with some green stuff but I won't go into any other details because it was the dumbest old horror movie.
Anyway, these experiences had to be shared. And for those wondering, yes I went to a real doctor in the U.S. and everything is fine and they didn't say anything about my marital status. Sorry now pictures of the compound for two reasons: This was prior to my camera purchase and it is illegal to take pictures of many unspecified buildings in Azerbaijan, for which I could be arrested. I may never have any pictures of buildings to share. In fact, I'm basically afraid to accidentally take pictures as there is no real list of what you can and can't take pictures of. Sorry! It is not as exciting without pictures!