If I had a patient with anemia back at home, I'd know precisely which blood tests to order to be able to say more about what its cause was, and thus how to treat it. While I'd be twiddling my thumbs and waiting for the blood test results to come, any medical student from here would already have the answer and get on with treating it.
Blood tests, as well as other investigations, are expensive here. Patients often have to pay for things themselves, which often stands as a huge limitation in patient treatment. There is a silver lining though: doctors here become masters at finding stuff out just by clinical examination.
There's so much you can find out just by using basic tests. Palpating the spleen to see if it shows signs of increased destruction of blood cells. Looking for signs of small bleeding spots called petechia, indicating that there might be something wrong with the bone marrow's production of blood cells. And the list goes on.
Perhaps if I'm here for long enough, I too will learn how to not twiddle thumbs.
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