So imagine someone is about to have a heart attack, with severe chest and arm pains and when you ask them to go to the doctor, they say it’s nothing serious, it will pass! Or imagine someone finally makes it to the doctor’s office but when asked how they feel, they say “it’s just a small pain”, clearly minimizing the medical issue.
Does this sound familiar? Because this describes a lot of men out here who for one reason or another have been shown to be less likely to seek medical services as compared to women.
So why this negative attitude towards seeking medical services among men? Some say it is because of a hero syndrome among men, them not wanting to look like the weaker sex, feeble and sweating the small stuff. Others say it’s because of society’s conditioning that men should not seem like complainers or always bothering others with their problems.
However, this behavior is posing a very serious risk- that of missing on the early warning signs of a severe disease. Many diseases nowadays are silent killers and are largely detected at a late stage because people only go to the hospitals when the symptoms are severe, and more often than not, this is during the late stages of the diseases when treatment is very difficult.
Many healthcare institutions have been advocating for the public at large to normalize having periodic medical checkups, even when one “feels” perfectly fine. Healthcare providers like Bliss Healthcare for example are running wellness Checkups through its subsidized packages this month of June in commemoration of Men’s Health Month.
From Ksh 1,500 onwards, patients can visit any of the over 70 Bliss Clinics throughout the country and get a full body checkup. It includes services such as Full Haemogram, Random Blood Sugars, Liver Function Analysis, Prostate Specific Antigen test, Total Cholesterol Analysis and so much more. These discounted rates are in line with Bliss’s Mission to offer quality and affordable healthcare to all Kenyans.
So men, let’s take a little time away from our busy schedules to prioritize our health.