ddartt

I went to Dr. Anna for a skin lesion which turned out to be benign granuloma, but could've easily been melanoma.

The cost was 15k baht, but that included consultation, excision with stitches, pathology, dressing change day after and follow up after 1 week to remove stitches and discuss pathology. To me the price is okay - yes way more expensive than many other hospitals, but when it comes to a potential deadly disease, I think it's worth it. Cigna would have covered the surgery even without outpatient cover had I reached my deductible already.

I think Dr. Anna was very professional and took big interest in my case. She also had no problems writing prescription just on a piece of paper so I can buy it from pharmacy outside and not from hospital at outrageous prices.

I personally just had a couple of minor concerns:

1) I would prefer that she shares more of her thoughts process and diff diagnosis. Basically what she thinks it is, and why. But I totally realize this really depends on personal style.

2) She can email pathology results but make sure you explicitly agree about that. In my case we sort of talked about that but I guess there was some misunderstanding.

--and this about BHP and not Dr. Anna specifically:

1) I found the staff (nurses, admins, everyone) in the hospital to be surprisingly unfriendly. So very unusual for Thailand and certainly not for that price...

2) Their obsession with measuring the blood pressure etc just drives me nuts. 

I did that today and it wasn't that nice actually. The immigration girl wanted me to pay 1000thb for "visa run" (in addition to 950thb Andaman official fee). I refused asking what for, then she told me I need to show 10k thb cash and a flight ticket. Luckily I had cash with me, and told her I'm traveling overland on a motorbike so no flight. That attracted more attention from other immigration people there who got curious, so it shut her up and I didn't pay anything. Otherwise it's efficient - I spent a total of 1h there including trip to Myanmar and back. I only paid 950thb Andaman fee, that is paid on the Myanmar side as per other reports.

It's my second land entry this year, the first one was a month ago at Mae Sai as I did actually come on a motorbike overland. Not cool though, I know it's a published requirement but usually they don't care.