sandyf

I could see that between different countries but I would have thought that in any particular area it was the same virus being passed around. Also from what I gather is that if there were several strains in the same area the death toll would be higher. I got it in Pattaya and my niece got it 3 months previous, not that far away, and she was hospitalised.

There is health insurance and there is travel insurance, good luck finding both in a single policy. You need to read the small print, I think with all the travel insurance I have had, the policy has had to have been issued in the country where the journey starts and ends. That was certainly the case in 2021 when I got free travel insurance with my Emirates ticket. For Thai immigration I had to request a personalised copy of the policy issued in the UK. As I said before you may well need both if you want cover for pre existing conditions. I think it would be a bit unwise to travel without the travel insurance. BTW I also have AF, what medication are you on, I take apixaban but a bit problematic getting it.

Why indeed, when false rumour and speculation makes the xenophobe that much happier.

For some reason it affects people differently. I had a really thumping headache for a few days but there is no real treatment other than trying to relieve the symptoms. I went and had a platlet count at a local clinic and that wasn't too bad, wouldn't want to go through it again. If it deteriorates into hemorrhagic fever, a different ball game.

Always the government, like a broken record, couldn't possibly be the local authority. They come round here with monotonous regularity, now we have actually had some rain expect them any day.

You need to separate the words "travel" and "health" as they are 2 different types of policy and you have not really indicated why you require the policy. When I used to live in UK and travel to Thailand I used several travel insurance providers and I think they all asked for pre existing conditions, but not sure if that is still the case. Since coming to Thailand I used AXA travel insurance up until I reached their upper age limit of 74 and they never required that pre existing conditions be declared. Each section of the policy has set exclusions and for health pre existing conditions would only come into play in the event of a claim. The company I have used more recently works in the same way. As the exclusions are embedded in the policy you may find it difficult to get around that with a company in Thailand. It is all a bit of a minefield and you may need a belt and braces approach using both types of policy.

There it is, the presumption that people haven't done there own research.

Not really the problem, it's the ratio of cashiers to doctors for outpatients when they both take about the same time to process a patient. The majority of outpatients are in and out in a few minutes.

Good to hear. Personally I would prefer that what funding was available was put into operational procedures rather than paperwork. Although the bureaucracy at time can be a bit tedious, time is not really a major issue.

Indeed but quite away behind China. I went for my niece's graduation in 2019 and it was effectively cashless then.I got some weird responses trying to pay with money. Went away for the weekend and ended up in a hotel that was on the other side of a river from the town centre. There was a little ferry taking people back and fore for about 3 baht. Cost me whatever I had, driver had no change as everyone paid by smartphone. Quite a few services couldn't be used by visitors as they could only be paid for by smartphone. Godsend at times having my niece with us.

Glad to hear you have good facilities, that is the main thing. When it comes to admin it would appear that some hospitals are much more advanced than others. That is almost certainly due to funding and it shouldn't be forgotten that the Thai GDP per capita is a fraction of the English speaking countries.

Legal & General sent one to my UK address some years ago, I wasn't there so it was sent back to them and they stopped the pension. I phoned them up and asked if they would be sending another, "no need, we don't take calls from the grave". Got pension the following day.

Different countries - different rules. I recently did an e-visa for Laos but had to use my UK address, wouldn't accept Thai address with UK passport. Wouldn't know about Vietnam on that, got visa exempt. There is a huge difference between the Laos/Vietnam arrangement and Thailand E-visas in the types of visa available and how applications are processed.

The pharmacy is at fault, I think by law the pharmacist must be present at all times medication is sold. A while back I went to the pharmacy counter in Tesco and tills were closed because the pharmacist had gone to the toilet. The staff were there but couldn't sell anything. I only wanted Fishermens Friend and was told to take them to the store checkout. I have used many a back street pharmacy and can't ever remember a pharmacist not being present, invariably they were the only one that could speak English.

I usually see about 1 foreigner on a hospital visit on the odd occasion maybe 2. Those that talk about congestion seem to think it is everywhere when it is not. The Thais are a morning people and they want to go first thing but hospitals that have put in place an effective appointment system have overcome that. The only congestion I get is at the cashiers but we can overcome that by going to a different floor. They didn't think it through for the cashier on the outpatients floor. There is usually about 6-8 doctors working outpatients and only 2 cashiers, at the speed the cashiers work it was inevitable a backlog would develop as the morning progressed. Bit frustrating when after having seen the doctor you have to wait even longer to leave the building.

Height of arrogance and presumption to keep telling people what they need to do.

Satisfaction is never easy, but then complaining is easier than putting yourself out. We live in the country and my wife and her sister go to a hospital in Bangkok, an hour and a half away. I am not quite so far with Bang Saen, would have to be an emergency to use the nearest.

You have now truncated the statement to suit your agenda. As far as the last point is concerned I would have thought it was incorporated to protect certain embassies, in particular the English speaking ones, from being overloaded. Highly likely the UK and US would be flooded with applications from people going to Vietnam and Laos. The other aspect is local embassies probably rely on physical applications for funding.

Find another hospital. When I go i go straight to the outpatients, show my appointment card and told to take a seat in the waiting room. It is an appointment system and only those close to time are allowed into waiting room, as it comes to your queue number you are called forward to sit bt the doctors door. You go in and see the doctor who checks your records on the computer. If medication is required it is entered on the computer for the dispensary. You then go to make next appointment, then the cashier and then collect medication, no paperwork, other than a receipt, or anything to sign. My routine medication from the hospital is about 30% cheaper than any pharmacy in the area. Only one I have a problem with is Apixaban.

Research on what exactly. All the lifestyle changes in the world are not going to reverse conditions that have developed. If I hadn't been on drugs, I wouldn't have had to take stroke prevention drugs for the last 15 years and may well be a cabbage or pushing up daisies. Only one result that means anything to me.

As I said your hospital must be run differently, a bit more than tablets, when I first started the "tablet doctor" carried out an echo. Only a couple of weeks ago I was referred from outpatients to surgery on the floor above. BTW surgery went well, had the stitches out last week.

They can and do, my hospital changed about 4/5 years ago. maybe yours is at the back of the rollout.

Well said Bill. Lifestyle changes are good advice for the more youthful, but at our age a bit more attention can quite literally be the difference between life and death.

Your hospital must be run a bit differently to mine. Where I go the outpatients dept is very much like a GP practice in the UK, and by appointment, if you walk in you have to wait until the appointments are complete. Just like a GP the doctors in outpatients just do prescriptions and assessment. If you need further treatment you are referred to someone further up the food chain. When the pandemic came about the hospital added me into Mor Phrom, at the front of the queue when the vaccine rollout started. Don't knock the benefits.

This is a misleading statement as on the application you must show your right to legal residence. As far as the OP is concerned he would need to show one of the listed Hong Kong ID cards. A VPN would only open the door to an application in your home country, by way of passport, while outside your home country, but not without risk. If you were to make the application during a visit to say Vietnam an observant IO on your return to Thailand may spot the date on the E-visa was during your stay in Vietnam.