w94005m

1 hour ago, w94005m said:

Thank you for posting, but you should note that came from the middle of March!

 

Testing and knowledge has expanded substantially since then and I stand 100% behind my comment that > 14 days is staggeringly unlikely. 

And here is a more recent and extensive survey with the absolute max at 12.8 days

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7548076/#:~:text=( Table 1 ).-,Pooled average incubation period of SARS-CoV-2,South Korea and China%2C respectively.

1 hour ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

According to the research, it takes longer than 14 days for the virus to incubate  in around 1 in 100 cases. There was one case in China which documented a 27-day incubation period.

 

Coronavirus incubation period

 

I'm not sure that a 1% chance, although admittedly small, qualifies as staggeringly unlikely.

Thank you for posting, but you should note that came from the middle of March!

Testing and knowledge has expanded substantially since then and I stand 100% behind my comment that > 14 days is staggeringly unlikely. 

11 minutes ago, Seismic said:

When you have been through the 14 day quarantine and tested negative for Covid-19, you probably do not expect the come down with it at a later date. What is more interesting is who she caught it from, or is 14 days quarantine actually enough.

More likely she caught it whilst quarantining. Notable symptoms are on average about 5 days after exposure. Staggeringly unlikely that 14 days is insufficient for a positive PCR test. 

Slightly off track, as a dual national, but I have at different times come in on one or the other and no problem at immigration.

However, bank was a different deal once I'd opened a bank account. A few years later when wanting ID, they insisted on my original passport which I had, but wasn't the one I now had my visa stamp in. Despite giving them both, they wouldn't accept that as acceptable for id'ing me.

7 hours ago, declanny said:

This policy from Luma Health actually sounds pretty good.

 

Has anyone gone with it? Any catches?

That is travel insurance, which typically will cover you for accidents, rather than treatment for conditions which come up. For those I suspect you would be repatriated.

It may also only apply for an upcoming trip and not applicable if you are already in Thailand. 

Typical travel insurances are normally cheaper than this.

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Premiums seem to have gone up since covid, that's why deductibles of 50k+ are worthwhile, if you gamble you won't claim. 

 

A friend tells me that with Pacific Cross if your medical costs exceed your cover you then pay 10% of the costs, Pacific Cross the balance, no one has confirmed that but worth getting a quote from them and checking the 10% thing 

Agreed on the deductibles and that was the first thing I said to the broker, but it didn't make as big a difference as I was expecting.

That's good to know regarding the blowing your limits deal with Pacific Cross. That's really attractive if that's true.

On 9/21/2020 at 6:41 AM, scubascuba3 said:

100,000 is very high for your age, circ 50k is more like it.

Try

April International

Pacific Cross

 

For Covid only cover maybe best to try a broker such as AA Insurance Brokers

I suspect that the deductibles that you see at 50,000 baht are notably less than GolfnBeer mentioned. His numbers seem in the ballpark for what I'm seeing.

I'd been similarly interested and my quotes at 58 years old were roughly:

1 - AXA 56,000 Baht premium, but only gave me a max coverage limit for the year of 70,000 Baht for Cancer or Kidney problems. And a total annual limit of 500,000 Baht. Not very near the COVID equivalent for visitors of 30,000,000 Baht! Frankly, this seemed laughable. The prices are ridiculous for the coverage.

2 - A COVID only insurance ($100,000 limit) for 40,000 Baht with a 80,000 Baht deductible. That was with April International.

3 - A general April International My Health Essential plan (basic accidents coverage) for SE Asia excluding Singapore - Max policy limit in brackets, all in Baht:

73,815    (16,375,000)
62,081    (3,275,000)

I'm considering the latter, as I'm guessing that even the lower limit of roughly $10,000 will cover most COVID situations unless I'm in a desperate state. In which case, probably screwed anyway! However, my pre-existing conditions will probably send this notably higher and I'll probably end up winging it.

These were from AA Insure.

11 hours ago, Nout said:

Within the last 24 hours? Why do you hate Thailand?

So just because I've questioned the non-presence of covid-19 in Thailand, I hate the country.

What incredible logic LOL!

11 hours ago, Nout said:

I feel safer here and better protected than the USA, UK or Australia.  If you don't then go home.

Yeah, I feel a lot safer here too. And I would feel even safer if everyone remained cautious, rather than blindly assuming the govt line based on limited and an unrevealed testing virus strategy with zero antibody testing.

When testing of the tiny number of people who leave the country reveals positive, unexplained cases, as a former epidemiologist, it's enough to make me seriously question the govt stats.

Additionally, when a country with the thoroughness of the islands of New Zealand gets a notable subsequent outbreak, it's also hard to believe that Thailand with so many bordered countries, especially Myanmar and maybe not so thorough a quarantine for official visitors, has not had any cases. And that's bearing in mind the unlikely situation that it was at one point covid-19 free.

11 hours ago, asiacurious said:

What is the source of this information?

https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/thailand-influenza-pneumonia#:~:text=Thailand%3A Influenza and Pneumonia&text=According to the latest WHO,Thailand %2370 in the world.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6804544_The_incidence_of_pneumonia_in_rural_Thailand

The estimated annual incidence of 580/100,000 with a population of about 70 million, suggests something in the order of 400,000 per year.

2 hours ago, dabhand said:

Maybe false positives as with a previous case back in August. Japan appear to use a saliva based test for the initial check on arrival before using the more thorough RT-PCR test as a follow up. 

https://www.pattayamail.com/thailandnews/japanese-man-found-with-covid-19-after-departing-thailand-tested-negative-311417

 

 

And if they were doing as many tests as claimed here, there should be a notable number of false positives reported, but none for many months, which is not credible.

All I know is that I would trust Japan for testing and retesting far more than Thailand. And doubtless they have retested them in the last 6 days, as they did with the earlier case you refer to with a PCR test for sure. Although it is reported that the initial test is a PCR test as well.

https://www.ana.co.jp/en/jp/topics/notice200501/

Complete waste of money. This work needs incredible experience, knowledge and resources. Even in advanced countries and huge medical companies, this is major work with no guarantee of success.

Save the money to buy the vaccines once available or a license to produce, like India. Though as Thailand has almost no capacity for the latter, that's questionable.

18 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

Thailand just claimed to do 600 tests and found not one positive case.  I find that hard to believe - the amount of false positives on these tests is fairly high.  

It seems like they are covering up their numbers.  I'm just speculating, but this recent case is making me think that all these numbers are utter nonsense.  

Especially when you look at the 3 recent positive cases in Japan from Thai travellers. A remarkably high percentage for the relatively small number flying to Japan.

It does indeed seem highly likely that the virus is a lot more widespread than hoped, but maybe the viral exposures here are low due to masks and generally not in a/c environments and that's keeping most people as asymptomatic. There's never been a good explanation for why Thailand has 'escaped', even with the rubbish testing results.

Cases do tend to circulate for a while before the spread is actually picked up. Let's hope we're not in for some bad news further down the line.

I don't know if this is available outside of the UK, but I have used the following online site which is run by an awesomely qualified consultant, who I've been very impressed with. If you're looking for an easy first opinion, you just need to get some quality high resolution pictures to them. He will be able to give you a quick opinion on whether it is cancerous and should be checked out locally or just needs monitoring.

www.dermatologist.co.uk

I have had 2 skin cancers mole removals, thankfully at an early stage and one which does not appear to be. The latter they are simply monitoring with digital photos to see if it changes.

I would just note that I did have a similar experience with DHL, but mine was with Medical Equipment rather than Medication which was also unavailable in Thailand, but in common use elsewhere in the developed world. Mine was for Diabetic Continuous Glucose Monitoring Dexcom G6. The topic title is "Diabetic CGM".

That also noted the need to have Doctor certification and emphasis that the supplies are purely for personal use, but unlike with you, DHL Thailand were in my case utterly inept. Both whilst trying to progress my sent supplies, where they were useless and then after illegally signing for its destruction, trying to wipe the issue away.

The only reason for adding onto your excellent points, which mirrored my own, was that I had to resort to DHL UK to resolve the issue. So if you're having no luck with DHL Thailand, then work with the sending DHL organisation. They were able to have DHL Thailand and customs resolve the issue.

As well as allowing me to successfully send another identical package, they also compensated me for the initial loss, which they admitted was their responsibility.

On 8/10/2020 at 4:54 PM, Sheryl said:

This is the only one I know of that has a websitr

 

http://www.bangkokdrugstore.com/

 

In addition, Medconsult Asia does med refills with delivery by courier. They can get pretty much anything that is nto a controlled substance and is available in Thailand.   https://www.medconsultasia.com/

 

Some individual pharmacies will accept faxed or telephoned orders and ship but do not have websites and you'd need a Thai speaker to help.

I use bangkokdrugstore.com and they've been great with me, but a lot of the time you will need to google for the Thai generic name first.

For example, omeprazole will return nothing, but the Thai generic name of Miracid works.

If you have no luck finding a 'common' drug, email them. I've always found them to be pretty quick and helpful.

Also. the order has to be prepaid with a bank transfer. No credit cards or COD

Final update, as I have been able to resend and have just received my latest supplies from Dexcom UK. ????????

Fruitless complaining with DHL Thailand and the UK backline team, forced me to insist to the UK backline team, that unless this was raised in importance with my need for this for my personal health, I would be contacting senior DHL personnel and trying to raise that in the media with Diabetic Groups. This resulted in it being passed onto a senior DHL supervisor on the UK backline team, who communicated with DHL Thailand and then with Thai Customs.

She took full responsibility for the DHL error and was able to clarify the situation with DHL customs. Such, that a resend was approved, which she tracked. Thankfully for me, there was no problem and I have of course expressed my great gratitude to her ????

Should anyone else be trying to get CGM supplies, I would suggest that the following two points would be helpful:

1 - A medical certificate from your Doctor, noting your diabetic status and the need for these monitors. Ideally have that within the package and also available electronically.

2 - A note with the package, emphasizing the life of the product. For Dexcom, each sensor lasting only 10 days and the transmitter only 90 days was noted on my last, successful send.

I would also note that Amazon have stopped selling Dexcom items and Ebay UK will now not send these, should you win an auction with their Global Shipping Program. I had used that once OK, but with the last attempt after this DHL failure, they refused to send it on to Thailand and returned it to the seller.

I had sent my first package with USPS many months previously (I also live in the US). Although that did go through, I was required to go to Laem Chabang Customs to pick it up. WIthout transport, that is a major problem for me and I'd assumed that with this prior decision by Thai Customs, that it might prove subsequently fruitless too (as Ebay had proved). If it's easy for you to go Laem Chabang, then that might be a better option.

Good Luck and thanks to all contributors.

To update, although I have to assume that there must be no other Type 1 Diabetics relying on CGM to control the condition here in Thailand.

However, those of you who have had the misfortune of ever having to deal with DHL and Thai Customs may be reminded of the despair of dealing with them.

It appears that DHL had illegally, forged a signature pertaining to me on a document, authorizing the destruction of 5 of my sensors. They had made no contact with me and failed to mention any of this when delivering the packages.

Thai Customs must have seen the use by date on the sensors and concluded that I only needed 1 to last me till the use by date in 2021. The fact that there are 3 in a self contained box all with the same date, never crossed their stupid minds as to why and that maybe each one is like a can of fruit, use by 2023, but it's only going to provide food for a few days once opened. ????

I have requested that DHL Thailand and through DHL UK (from where they were sent) notify Thai Customs, that no consent had been given and to detail that each sensor only lasts 10 days and by letting 1 through, they had only provided me with 10 days control, which is useless. I need them to understand and ensure that there will not be a repeat problem when re-sending them.

I've now had 10 emails and this request has not been understood in any way. Every time they are either saying they will drop it, as they have a signed document authorizing their destruction or on the last email, taking responsibility, but wanting to again immediately drop the issue. As you know, the chance of a Thai losing face, stops anything happening ????

I would also note that Thai Customs, despite destroying 5 of the 6 sensors, still charged import tax on them all and an extreme amount for storage while they refused to release them and taking 4 weeks to reach their flawed decision.

It is critical for me to get these and I am now trying to press the issue at a senior level with DHL. Legal action will get me nowhere as I can't afford the time that will take. 

Despite six weeks of no DETECTED local transmission, would be rather more accurate. Or did I miss the story about the dramatic increase in testing?

Never test, never know

11 minutes ago, ukrules said:

My wild guess here - after someone intervened on your behalf they located your package and allowed one item through on 'compassionate' grounds or due to low value for a single item and seized the rest. We can confirm this though.

I find that hard to believe. They charged me fully for taxes and DHL made no reference of any problems on their separate letter in English, but anything's possible here. And one is virtually worthless. They only last for 10 days.

Hoping my nephew's wife can help with the docs.

4 minutes ago, ukrules said:

You need a translation of this ASAP, it could be that they confiscated only some of the items.

 

Scan it or photograph it and have it translated, if you either post it here or PM me the photo with the Thai writing on it then I can have a Thai look at it for you.

Thanks - that was what I was doing.