dottie

Yes harrry, it could have written it as a new post but when I first started writing I was thinking more about the "dtaang daaw"card which had already been mentioned here in this thread. Sorry to be a bit rambling...it's one of those days.

And Sheryl, thanks for that info. That's useful. For the past 2 years I have been working closely with staff in the government healthcare system and they often admit that, half the time they don't know the system either, so it's a case of slogging on with gleaning information when and where I can!

Hi, I would like to add some info based on my experiences with government hospitals here, especially since I recently posted a query on TV about a special card (the "dtang daaw card") which just happened to have been mentioned along the way in this thread.

Our background: farang with half-Thai child who has a disability. I am on the yellow tabien baan while my kid is on the blue tabien baan for our address. I work and pay tax in Thailand, not married to a Thai.

I go to the Siriraj for my own treatment, after having been operated on there about 4 years ago and was an antenatal patient there.

My kid was born at Phra Mongkut hospital (the army hospital near Victory Monument), which is where she gets treated now under the "30 baht health care" scheme. She also goes to Ramathibodi hospital and Chula where she gets treated under the Thai disability scheme (she has a disability card which means that she should get free treatment in any Thai government hospital, not just the one she is registered at).

What I have found out over the years...

- Main Siriraj hospital: they have treated me at the same rate as a Thai, i.e. 50 baht to see the doctor, 900-odd baht for a battery of pre-op blood tests and a chest x-ray, around 60,000 baht for a major operation including 3 nights in a private room. No need to show any cards or get membership or anything (but I did claim on private insurance for most of operation cost), just register as a patient at the hospital.

- New private part of the hospital (Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun): dual pricing for foreigners and Thais. The only way to get the Thai rate is to have the "dtang daaw card" which I got my company's office manager to investigate and she found out that this is only for nationalities such as Burmese, Cambodians, etc. According to the admissions staff, tabien baans are not accepted by the hospital and neither are tax certificates proving you pay tax in Thailand. The farang price is 20% more than for Thais so, about a month ago, I was quoted 200,000-220,000 baht for a laparoscopic operation at Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun and it can be done within a few days (to compare, the same operation is about 60,000 baht in the main hospital but the waiting list is long at about 5-6 months).

- My base hospital at Chareonkrung Pracharak: I have used my government health card there for myself ("rap rong sit gaan raksaa payabaan" card). That government card was issued based on my paying social security contributions which I have heard you can pay voluntarily if you are not employed. I don't know if this is the same as the 30 baht card because I was told at Phra Mongkut Hospital that a 30 baht card is not issued anymore to Thais and they just use their citizen's ID number, which my kid has on her birth certificate.

My registration at this hospital is based on my address and I got the card off my employer who seemed to think they didn't need to give it to me, tssk tssk. You can apply to change your base hospital but only around March each year, I believe. I tried to change it to the Siriraj but that got laughed at because I don't live near enough to the Siriraj and anyway that hospital has too many applicants as it is!

When I used my government health card at Chareonkrung Pracharak, I had to present myself as early as possible in the morning (well before 8am) at the hospital's social security desk with a crowd of other poor folks and then we all queued for a long time before I got to see the doc. That consultation and treatment (basic) was free for me. Personally, I found this hospital was not always the cleanest and also encountered one decidedly odd doctor so my visits there have been rare!

Main Siriraj Hospital: staff are great, and are helpful and take good care of you (unlike my experiences at Chula where many mistakes were made and too many staff didn't seem to give 2 hoots about their patients, which I attribute to being burdened by poor administrative practices causing extra work unnecessarily). Siriraj is very busy but they have quite an efficient system so they can process a lot of patients. Having said that, the doctors have always taken their time with me - never rushed. The hospital is pretty new in many places and the equipment is pretty good, even if the surroundings haven't been upgraded.

Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun: glossy new facility, still getting up and running as far as I can see. High prices. Private rooms are more than 6,000 baht a night, I think.

Phra Mongkut Hospital: very modern main building and well organized. I paid about 45,000 baht for a caesarian delivery there (private room for 5 nights - not very comfortable beds though) and my kid stayed in NICU for a month on the 30 baht scheme at a total cost of about 500 baht if I recall.

Ramathibodi Hospital: we go to 2 different parts of the hospital, the main public part which is typical government hospital and very busy, and the evening clinics and special facilities at the semi-private Prateb building which is very clean and nicely organized.

Chulalongkorn Hospital: undoubtedly there are some very skilled doctors there but getting access to them is very difficult. You usually have to make do with the junior doctors and have to fight tooth and nail to see a senior guy. The admin processes are pretty poor here and this makes extra work for staff, so they are quite stressed and more overworked than they need to be. They made many mistakes with a whole range of quite critical stuff in a couple of different departments so I have now given up on this hospital. FYI: The Early Intervention unit for kids is good though - really nice staff but they tend to more focussed on Down Syndrome than other stuff.

My kid claims on the 30 baht and the disability schemes each time, which requires going early to register with her birth certificate and hospital card. It's quite onerous to do this each time but it gets us basic treatment and medication for free.

So, my conclusions based on my experiences are:

- government hospitals in Bangkok will treat you at the same rate as a self-paying Thai in their main units (their semi-private wings are likely to charge you more than a Thai and possibly as much as a top-flight private hospital)

- you can use your "rap rong sit gaan raksaa payabaan" card, which you can get as a foreigner paying social security contributions, at your base hospital which is indicated on the card and is based on where you live but it will mean registering first each visit and will mean a long wait and will get you only basic care for free (in my experience). - the "dtaang daaw" card seems to be unavailable to farang

- Claiming under the 30 baht or the disability scheme means registering ("yern sit") each visit at your base hospital....sigh. And each hospital requires slightly different combinations of documents in different quantities. Be prepared to queue multiple times at different counters. Quite confusing even for Thai speakers. Also, I sometimes feel that the system is set up to place obstacles in your way when trying to claim...for example, when we had to get a polysomnography done for my kid, we paid the first time and then the cashier told us that we could get it free next time if we got a referral from our base hospital. When we presented the documents to do that next time, we were told "oh no, you had to submit the documents 14 days before" (there had been no mention of this originally).

- And the so-called free health care is very limited in what it actually covers. For example, my kid needs daily injections which we have to pay for - NOT covered by the government. However, we get it at just above cost-price. She also needs a piece of medical equipment while asleep...again, not covered (government officials get the more basic version of this equipment for free but not the more complex device which kids with this disability usually require). I have even met hospital staff whose own kids are really sick (with stuff like cancer) and they didn't know if their care would be totally covered - even if it ultimately was, they were going through so much stress about the cost.

I have now decided to pay for my care at government hospitals since it's not a lot of money and it means there are fewer hoops to jump through each and every time.

And I still have private health insurance for the bigger stuff. It's worth not letting it lapse, in my view.

Sorry for the long post but I thought there might be some useful info in there somewhere...

HSBC in UK have been sending my cards and printed statements to me here for nearly 10 years. They have my family's address in UK and my address in Thailand; my Thai address is logged as my "temporary" address and the UK address as my "permanent" one. Not had any problems with HSBC so far. They seem quite happy with this arrangement.

As a follow-up to this, I just found out from my Khet office that this card is only issued to nationals of Cambodia, Laos, Burma, etc. I had actually written it slighly wrongly in English...should have been "bprajam dtua dtang dtaaw" card.

On my list would be:

- Rhubarb (hard to find here)

- Tetleys/PG Tips teabags (expensive here for a small pack)

- Cheese (expensive here)

- John West tuna fillets in lemon sauce etc (unbelievably they are produced in Thailand but not available here - handy to keep in the store cupboard for "too lazy to cook properly but don't want to go out for food/have it delivered" days)

- Wine (expensive)

- Ready-made organic baby food (not available here...probably not relevant to you though!)

Thanks guys, I do all this already...all sound advice it is too!

The only time I use her Thai passport for entering other countries is when we go to Singapore (need to save those valuable pages in her expensive UK passport). If we ever go to Laos, Cambodia etc, we'll use the Thai passport.

People with small kids actually usually get summoned to an express lane at immigration, whether they're Thai or not. I just wished they would do this in Heathrow, one of the most user-unfriendly airports I've been to.

Thanks again!

Hi, I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right area of Thai Visa (move it to another forum if I'm in the wrong place) ....

Has anyone heard of the "bprajam dtua dtaaw" card? I've attached a copy of the note that a helpful Thai person wrote for me. Hope I've read it correctly.

The reason why I ask is because, if you have this, you can get the Thai rates at the Siriraj Hospital's new private wing. Otherwise, you pay 25% more for any medical procedures there.

I am not sure if only permanent residents can get it or if anyone who pays tax in Thailand can get one.

The friendly staff at the Siriraj weren't sure if I could get one of these but thought that, if I could, I could get it at my local Khet office.

If anyone knows about this, can they let me know who can get it, how & where to get it, time involved and any costs?

Thanks!

Hi Mario2008, thank you so much for your very quick and comprehensive reply. I've been having some problems with the TV website lately so I've been trying to write to say thanks for some time!

How do you know all this stuff?

It's great information. Most of what I found online doesn't relate to a non-Thai mum of a Thai child so I thought things might be a bit different. The info about not having to show the financial requirements and 3-month "seasoning" is one less worry now. My 400k was going to come from a Provident Fund but obviously I wouldn't get that until I left work so it wouldn't have "seasoned" in time.

I have plenty of evidence that I live with my child...she has a disability so we make regular visits to government hospsitals under the social security system (lots of hospital receipts!). We have a good relationship with her dad who pays for most stuff for her, so he'd be fine with writing a letter in case we need it.

I'm going to Australia anyway so it's good timing for changing my visa. However, it's good to know that I wouldn't have to leave the country immediately if anything changed for me workwise.

Good news for me...and thanks again from one exhausted working mum who needs a break. If I get any further information after my Aussie visit, I'll feed back on this!

Hi

In October, I will be going to Australia to change my non-immigrant B to non-immigrant O visa after I finish working here in Bangkok.

I am the mother of a Thai child but am not married to her father. I'm not over 50 years old. My child and I are both on my tabien baan (she on the blue book and myself on the yellow book) and she has a Thai passport as well a British one.

What are the requirements for getting a non-immigrant O visa in Australia?

Will I initially only get a 90-day visa and then have to apply for an extension when back in Thailand?

What documents will I need to present?

Will I also need any paperwork from her father?

Are there any financial requirements (e.g. THB 400k in a Thai bank for 3 months prior to applying) for the initial application or is that just for the extension?

I have searched all over the web (including TV) and found lots of different information so I'm not at all sure now.

If anyone has any useful information, that would be great.

Cheers!

There is a public library in Lumpini Park. It has a children's section with English books too.

I think TV posters will have to get out more. No publc libraries in Thaland....Well in Chiang Rai there is one...in a mock train too to increase interest...Chiang Mai has one on the left side of HuaKau road just before the moat and a very nice subranch in a KadSuanKau which also serves coffee. I rember having seen one in Surathani and also know there was one in the Central Building the Red Shirts torched and am aware that that one opened a temporary section just after the fire.

I agree Thais shuld read more..the sme applies to kids in Australia however it is not true there are no facilities.

It would be better though if they were accessible to wheelchairs and sadly few of them are.

I used to be a librarian and I agree that it's sad that Thais don't read more (I am always so happy when I DO see a Thai reading a "proper" book, and not just for studying purposes!). In my experience, Indians read much more, with loads of English language bookstores and printers in Indian cities, so maybe that's why their English is better too. When I lived in Bangladesh, there were hardly any bookshops and I definitely noticed that Bangladeshis' English was not as good as, say, that of Calcuttans.

However, Harry's right, there is indeed at least one public library in Chiang Mai - alas, I have never been inside because it always seems to be closed when I walk by on a weekend, so longer opening hours would be a great start.

Also, in Bangkok, there are little "portacabins" set up at intervals along Charoenrad Road (between Rama 3 and Sathorn Road) which are little community libraries. One is always closed but the other seems to have a group of local ladies doing aerobics or having a chat outside it early in the morning and it seems to be open every day.

And, I even saw a mobile library van parked on the beachfront in Songhkla once. Clearly marked as such in English and Thai. I was so amazed. I couldn't see if it was open, otherwise I'd have taken a closer look. Never seen it since or anywhere else in Thailand.

Immigration office at Chaengwattana is finally open. I have to go asap. Is the expressway safe?

Can someone confirm if immigration office at Chaenwattana is actually open? I have to go there and no-one is answering the phones, although the line was engaged earlier. Cheers!

dottie, thanks for this post. very interesting. i´ve used bum & sam srinakarin and can´t say that i am always really satisfied with their medical skills.

wish you good luck with the ultimate cure - the baby

Thanks! Will keep you posted

I recently had a bad experience at Siriraj Hospital when my wife and I took her mother there for a diagnosis of kidney stones. The doctor would not accept any medical information from other hospitals such as x-rays, urine and blood tests. When I asked him about various methods of treatments (such as sound wave treatment as opposed to surgery) he wouldn't answer any of my questions and walked out of the room. His manner was completely non-communicative and unprofessional. His attitude was clearly "I'm the doctor and you have no right to question me". We went to our regular private hospital (Vibharam) and had all of our questions answered patiently and in full by the doctor and at no charge.

I think the problem with Siriraj is that there are lots of patients and the doctors appear to have very little time to diagnose. Based on the short consultation time (the doctor was spending less than 10 minutes per patient) plenty of revenue is being generated but I wonder about the accuracy of the diagnosis in such a short time. It looks like a money making scheme for the doctors, especially when they insist on duplicate servicing. Since when is exposing patients to unnecessary x-rays in the health interests of a patient ?

I would not send my dog to Siriraj based on my experience and what I saw there.

Wow, sorry you had such a bad experience.

While I agree with you that the staff are very overworked, I found that they all were very generous with their time. My first visit was more than an hour with the doctor and my latest one this week I was with him for nearly an hour as he patiently answered all my niggling post-op questions. There was no question of him being annoyed with my "question the doctor" approach; rather, he seemed found me quite intriguing especially when I told him I'd watched the entire DVD of my operation, which prompted him to ask me if I'd seen my liver etc etc!

And he did look at my Bumrungrad scan but only briefly, since he said a physical exam would tell him more, as it did - endometriosis, Funnily enough, the Bumrungrad doctor had completely omitted to detect or inform me about this and, when I went back to Bumrungrad to do the originally scheduled 2nd scan and to tell her I wouldn't be able to do the op there, she looked rather uncomfortable when I asked her if endometriosis and not the cysts were the problem. Suddenly there was then a noticeable amount of backtracking on her part (and she's one of the most senior doctors in that field in Bumrungrad!

Over the past 5 years here, I've been to several private hospitals and also asked lots of friends and acquaintences (Thai and farang) for their recommendations regarding doctors. The overwhelming opinion was that no one hospital was all good, and that you probably will end up going to one hospital for one doctor and to another for a different specialist, in order to get the best service. Opinions on the Bumrungrad, BNH and Samitivej all varied wildly, and I found that most people had something negative to report about one or the other of them. Many of my Thai friends recommended finding a good private doctor and then asking them if they work at a government hospital, where they could get the same service much cheaper.

In my pre-op research, I also noted that it's critical to choose a surgeon who has sufficient regular experience of actually doing a laparoscopic operation. That's because many don't do that many of these quite complex operations. In UK at least, private hospitals certainly tend not to have as good a reputation as the government NHS hospitals because they don't get as much regular practice in doing the different procedures. I doubt very much that the private hospitals here do laparoscopic operations as frequently as the Siriraj. The doctor who operated on me does this procedure at least every couple of weeks (and several in one day, on the day that he's in the operating theatre).

I suppose the bottom line is that private hospitals are run as businesses and should always be viewed as such. At least in a government hospital, there is less of the money-making "let's send her for all the tests we can do" aspect. And on that note, on my recent return visits to the Siriraj, the staff in that department recognized me and took the time to have a personal chat and ask how I was doing. I don't recall having that experience in the much less busy private hospitals.

Dottie

Thank you for your very informative post. Siriraj is the closest hospital to where I live, and I always meant to find out if I could be accepted as a patient there. After your experience, I e-mailed them, and they replied very quickly with a factual and detailed reply. The next step is to register myself there, and to have a medical examination. Fortunately, I am in good health at the moment, so I can do this in my own time.

Many thanks again, and I hope that others on this forum read your post, as it is excellant.

Alan

THANK YOU alantheembalmer!

I have been very impressed with this place compared to my experiences at 3 private hospitals in BKK and, while I am aware that the Siriraj has somewhat of a "special" status with support from the highest and best places, I could not fault the professionalism and skills of the staff.

My doctor wanted his staff to practice speaking English with me because he would like more "medical tourists" (his words, not mine) and he's quite senior so I am sure that the hospital management is thinking about how to encourage more foreigners to go there ... to raise its profile and also generate income from private patients..

I don't know how you are with speaking and reading Thai but I would advise going there with an open mind (consultations in private rooms seem to be a rarity but no-one will understand what you are discussing with the doc if you are speaking English!), a smile and patience, and I'm quite sure that the staff will do all they can to help you!

I wish you well for when you do go to the Siriraj.

That tall building was where I stayed when I was in Siririaj. I was there for 17 days (15 days after the op for rectal cancer). It was a fantastic room. 16th floor if I remember and just along the corridor were a pair of very fancy ornate white and gold doors which I never saw opened but was told that was where members of the Royal Family went when they stayed at the hospital.

I agree that the hospital is extremely crowded and without my Thai wife helping me when I first registered etc. I don't know how I would have managed. I've only ever seen one other farang there in all the visits I have made there. My surgeon had done some of his training at Hammersmith hosp. London and my radiologist had trained at the Royal Marsden, London so I felt in good hands and at a fraction of what it would have cost at any of the private hospitals in Bangkok. I actually started treatment at a private hospital (Thonburi Hospital) but was advised by my radiologist to have the radiation treatment done at Siriraj because they had better equipment.....and would be cheaper, she said with a wink! So one thing led to another and I ended up having the operation done there as well. That was three and a half years ago. I still go there for check-ups and I'm pleased to report that I'm still in the clear.

Wow, your room must have been a special one for you to be on the same floor as the Royal Family's area. Good to hear your tale and that you are still in the clear Tell me, do you normally have to wait a long time when you go for your check-ups?

I was wondering what it'd be like to go there for GP consultations. Presumably, you'd be joining the masses on the ground floor and signing up for a very long and hot wait. Pity because I'd rather do all my med stuff there ... suppose that means I'll have to keep going to a private hospital for regular stuff, since my company won't understand my having to take a whole day off for a doctor's appointment I kind of resent paying private hospitals' "service charge" each time just to have my weight, blood and temp taken!

For the first two years after my operation I was going there every 3 months. Now I only have to go every 6 months ( up till 5 years aniversary from op). If I see my surgeon I have to go to the OPD on the third floor of the main building. Armed with an appointment it isn't too long a wait. My surgeon and my radiologist both wish to see me for the check-ups but as their clinics are on different days it means two visits so I tend not to bother to visit my surgeon any longer. I just see my radiologist who has an oncology clinic in a separate building. I could get my blood tests, xrays and ultra sound scans done at Siriraj but to cut the time down I get all the tests done at a local hospital to where I live and just go to Siriraj armed with all the results. That way with an appointment I've normally no more than an hour to wait to see the doctor.

So to answer your question, I would just use Siriraj for the important stuff and use another hospital for the routine things (unless you like being amongst a seething mass of people! )

By the way, sorry to be posting on this forum as I know it's for the ladies. It was just that the name Siriraj caught my attention.

Thanks for that. Good to hear about your experience. Difficult to find info about government hospitals - they aren't as into using their websites for marketing as the private ones.

Oh and I only posted this in Ladies' forum because it was a womens' issue healthwise (suppose it could have gone into Health Forum) ... decisions decisions!

That tall building was where I stayed when I was in Siririaj. I was there for 17 days (15 days after the op for rectal cancer). It was a fantastic room. 16th floor if I remember and just along the corridor were a pair of very fancy ornate white and gold doors which I never saw opened but was told that was where members of the Royal Family went when they stayed at the hospital.

I agree that the hospital is extremely crowded and without my Thai wife helping me when I first registered etc. I don't know how I would have managed. I've only ever seen one other farang there in all the visits I have made there. My surgeon had done some of his training at Hammersmith hosp. London and my radiologist had trained at the Royal Marsden, London so I felt in good hands and at a fraction of what it would have cost at any of the private hospitals in Bangkok. I actually started treatment at a private hospital (Thonburi Hospital) but was advised by my radiologist to have the radiation treatment done at Siriraj because they had better equipment.....and would be cheaper, she said with a wink! So one thing led to another and I ended up having the operation done there as well. That was three and a half years ago. I still go there for check-ups and I'm pleased to report that I'm still in the clear.

Wow, your room must have been a special one for you to be on the same floor as the Royal Family's area. Good to hear your tale and that you are still in the clear Tell me, do you normally have to wait a long time when you go for your check-ups?

I was wondering what it'd be like to go there for GP consultations. Presumably, you'd be joining the masses on the ground floor and signing up for a very long and hot wait. Pity because I'd rather do all my med stuff there ... suppose that means I'll have to keep going to a private hospital for regular stuff, since my company won't understand my having to take a whole day off for a doctor's appointment I kind of resent paying private hospitals' "service charge" each time just to have my weight, blood and temp taken!

And apparently the Queen prefers Chula. In my photo of the river view, you can see a tall building on the left. That's where HM stays when he's there.

Hi all, I'm a regular reader but infrequent contributor to the Ladies' Forum. Anyway, I thought I might share my recent experience of the Thai government health system after I found very little information on the web in the run-up to my operation. Hope it might be of interest or of help. Sorry if it's a bit wordy.

A couple of months ago, I mentioned to my regular OB/GYN at Bumrungrad that I had had very painful periods for the past few years. On hearing that, I immediately had an ultrasound booked for me which showed that there were "chocolate" cysts on my ovaries. The doctor told me that she should remove these in a laparoscopic procedure. When I heard the price, I nearly fell on my nose ... 140,000-160,000 baht (and presumably that's not including anything like board and lodging).

Well, I knew that my insurance wouldn't cover that and I don't have those kinds of savings - my Thai b/f said that he would pay for me but it just seemed an awful lot of money.

Fortunately, one of my Thai friends is a doctor who had just finished specialising in OB/GYN at the Siriraj. By some bad timing, she had just started a new job elsewhere in the country but she contacted the doctor who'd trained her who advised me to come to see him at his STI clinic! My friend told me to get to the Siriraj at 8am because it would take a good hour to register and get a hospital card.

Since it was a Tuesday, I went along on my own to the Siriraj, feeling like a bit of a fraud with my Bumrungrad scan file under my arm (trying to hide it!). Well, it was a circus in the main area on the ground, with all signs in Thai only, and masses of people sitting on wooden benches eating their street food and obviously having been there for quite some time. It was hot hot in there too.

Thanks to my passable Thai, I found someone to explain that I had an appointment with a doctor and that I needed to register first. Someone produced some registration documents (I believe they were in English as well as Thai), which I filled out and then I had my photo taken. A while later, I got given a very nice hospital card and was told to report to a room upstairs where my documents would be sent up later.

The room upstairs proved to be a large room with more wooden benches, each taken up with a heavily pregnant woman. Smaller rooms led off the main one, with what seemed to be ante-natal classes going on in some. I was directed to the room at the end. I still hadn't seen another foreigner in the hospital and goodness knows what they thought when I asked for the STI clinic! Anyway, in room 309 (air-conditioned!), the nurses explained to me that the doctor was delayed and that I'd have to wait a while. I was ushered to a space on one of the benches outside and proceeded to wait ... it was hot and I still hadn't had anything to eat or drink (in case I had to give any samples). After about an hour and a half, in a fairly faint state of mind I asked if there was time for me to get some water. Thankfully, a branch of 7-Eleven was just outside in the stairwell lobby so, thus fortified, I returned to my place on the bench, only to be told that the doctor was on his way and that I could go into the inner room.

There, I joined half a dozen Thai women sitting on little stools. In the middle of the room, there was a school desk and 2 stools, and to one side there was a curtained off area. In fact, the whole room reminded me of my biology classroom in my 1980s British government school (a bit shabby but with fittings from the 1950s that were built to last!) - but it was blissfully cool at least. The doctor hurried in, with sleeves rolled up, tie tucked in his shirt, and I was first up.

I took my place on one of the stools at the school desk and, in front of the whole room of people (most of whom couldn't understand a word anyway because the doctor fortunately spoke good English), I explained my problem. Generously, he took about a whole hour to question me at length. He wasn't particularly interested in the Bumrungrad scan but said that a pelvic exam would tell him more. I was ushered behind the curtained off area where he promptly reduced me to a state of such pain that I emerged back into the main room in a somewhat tearful state. Bearing in mind that this was the STI clinic, who knows what the other patients imagined he'd just done to me!

Anyway, the verdict was that the cysts weren't the main problem but rather something called Deeply Invasive Endometriosis (scarily they kept writing it as DIE on the documentation!) and that I needed a laparoscopic operation to remove it. The doctor asked if I would be willing to have him operate and, when I suggested that I should have him do it at one of the private hospitals that he also works at, he said that he prefers to treat patients who first see him at the government hospital on the public health system ... good, that meant that I would save a load of money.

Once that was agreed, it was suddenly all systems go. First I paid for the doctor's consultation (Baht 40!!) and then was sent to different areas for blood tests (Baht 800) and a chest x-ray (Baht 200). Although the surroundings weren't glitzy and the staff (except for the senior nurses and the doctors) didn't speak English, it was like a production line for sick people ... unceremonious but fast and efficient. It reminded me of a UK National Health Service hospital from the 1980s but with the right equipment and procedures where it matters.

That done, I emerged after lunch, with orders to report back for the results the following day.

I returned as instructed and waited in a quite modern air-conditioned room where a junior doctor explained the results to me in English, while sat at one of many school desks arranged round the room. Privacy is not one of the things to expect in a government hospital, it would seem. A set of admissions papers were produced, all written in Thai, by the esteemable Nurse Wanaa, the Admissions Nurse, who could speak fairly good English and offered to help me complete them. However, in a moment of nervousness when I wanted to be completely sure about what I was agreeing to, I asked if I could take them home so I could send them to b/f (working overseas, hence his absence from these proceedings) to translate.

On the 3rd day, I returned again and this time Nurse Wanaa and I worked out a suitable date when the doctor was free, my b/f would be back in Thailand, and when I would be mid-cycle. That was for the 20th July, a record time apparently since my doctor friend told me that normally there is a 6-month waiting list for this operation.

My Thai colleagues, some of whom are very wealthy, all told me that I would not have to worry about the Siriraj and that this is their hospital of choice; however, that the long waiting lists mean that, like most Thais who can afford it, they end up going to private hospitals. My main worry at this point would be that I'd end up in a big ward where b/f wouldn't be able to stay with me for moral support and translation services!

So, last Sunday I reported to the ward at 8am and was shown this very nice private room with a lovely river view and complete with kitchenette and sofa. Everything seemed well-maintained and clean, and the bed was very high-tech. I checked in and was told that it was a liquid diet for me that day ... but I was permitted to go downstairs with b/f for a Doi Tung coffee and a read of the newspapers! The rest of the morning was taken up with blood tests and interviews with the anaesthetist.

Then, in the afternoon, chaos! My b/f had gone home to get some towels which for some reason the hospital doesn't provide and he'd left his reading glasses there. He returned to find that we had to attend a class given in Thai by the nurses to the half dozen Thai women and me. It was actually a great presentation on what would happen to us and about after-care of the wound, exercises we could do, etc. All very professional. However, we were then given a test paper (in Thai) to make sure we'd understood what we'd just been taught. Well, I NEVER expected an exam of that kind in hospital! In the absence of b/f's reading glasses, a nurse came to my room and read out the questions for b/f to translate so I could provide my answer. When we got to the bit about fallopian tubes, he did lose it slightly ... obviously never learned THAT in his upcountry village school's English classes ! Thank goodness I'd paid attention in my school human biology lessons because, on hearing the key word "wings", I as able to use my imagination and draw a quick diagram of a woman's reproductive system to show the nurse. And so I answered the question and PASSED the test, yay!

The doctor came by to discuss the operation - although it was his day off and on his way to a meeting of the society of laparoscopic surgeons, he was in a cheery mood and spent over an hour telling me about his experiences while training in Germany and UK. He still spoke quite good German too. Anyway, it was all quite jolly and he no doubt was quite late for his meeting.

Later I was given 3 jugs of some bowel preparation and told I'd have to drink that all before 6pm. It was at that moment that one of my colleagues came in, having trekked from north of BKK on her day off, bearing a huge fruit basket. I could have cried. It was so lovely of her and unfortunately I couldn't eat any of it, yet! She didn't stay long which was probably a good thing because the bowel prep was having its effect by then and by the end of the day I felt as flat as a pancake. I sent b/f home for a good nights' sleep so he'd be fresh for the big day and chugged down the sleeping pill they'd given me. Well, after staggering around the room like a drugged elephant for one last trip to the bathroom, all effects of the pill then completely wore off and I was left to spend the night watching TV (just one English language channel, thankfully a movie channel) and reading.

At 5.30am a cheery nurse entered the room brandishing the fleet enema and 10 minutes later it had the intended effect. I wondered back to my bed, having showered and dressed in my surgical gown only to find my phone was missing from my bedside table. At first, I couldn't believe it. Who would steal from a sick person in a hospital? Well, in my hungry and unslept state of mind, I was quite upset, especially as I envisaged not having my mum's number in UK to let her know I was OK. The nurses called my b/f who came back with my spare phone and UK SIM card which fortunately had quite a lot of my numbers stored in it. Then, since I was going to be the last of the doctor's 3 patients for operations that day, they wanted to put me on a drip. Honestly, that was the most painful thing of the whole experience. On the 5th try, they managed it and I started to feel a bit steadier in my mind!

At 11am, a veritable army of people entered my room ... the doctor's ready for you now! I was hauled off pronto, down to the prep room on the 5th floor, swallowing a pill of something along the way. The doctor appeared and told me he would just go and get some noodles (I love Thailand!) but wouldn't be long. By the time he came back, I was already dozing off but, no rest for the wicked, it was time to go into theatre (as we say in UK) where I was tucked in like a mummy ... so no chance of escaping anywhere now.

The procedure involves injecting the abdomen with CO2 gas through the belly-button and then cutting 2-3 holes (each about an inch long) to insert the camera and implements with which the doctor does his cutting and burning off of the endometriosis and cysts.

Over 3 hours later (the doctor said it was a very long operation for this kind of procedure), I came to in the recovery room ... and the first thing that I uttered, in Thai, was that I wanted to eat "rad-naa" ... the perfect "getting well" food. Hmm, things must have gone OK then.

I was wheeled back to my room, to find that b/f by that time was quite beside himself since I'd been away for 5 hours. Then came a long night of being woken up for my temperature and blood pressure to be taken and constantly to be asked if I'd peed yet. Apparently that's a pretty vital sign that things haven't gone wrong in the operation. Well, it doesn't make for a peaceful night. For the record, I did pee (twice) and the first trip to the bathroom proved quite an adventure, first escaping from my bed which had the barriers firmly up, with drip in tow. I had an almighty funny turn on the way back to bed and ended up getting ammonia to sniff from one of the nurses.

In the morning, the doctor arrived for a debrief. "What, you're still in bed? My other patient is already showered and wanting to go home!". Hmm, no-one gives me a challenge like that. Normally people are telling me to take it easy! I did point out that I was: a) trapped in my bed and; I didn't think I could shower with the IV tap still in my arm. Ha!

Well, the upshot of all of this was that I have had to have a temporary menopause induced for 6 months, to kill off the roots of the endometriosis. The injection of hormones for this cost a whopping 20,000 baht (even with the government hospital's negotiated discount) and I've got to have another one in 3 months' time. The only real cure is to have a baby though and with b/f and my advancing age and his working away, it might be easier said than done! However, I feel OK now, despite being quite tired. The scars are amazing - no stitches or dressings (the stitches are inside and the wounds are sealed with a special glue which flakes off after about 10 days). The worst pain has been the CO2 gas which travels around body looking for a way out. Agonizing but it wears off after several days.

The cost of the operation, board & lodging and nursing care, and the hormone shot was 60,000 baht. If the hormone injection was 20,000 baht and the room etc was 2,500 a night (I was in for 2 nights), I calculate that the operation itself must have cost 35,000 baht. A steal, compared to the Bumrungrad which would have topped 200,000 baht in total, I reckon.

So, in summary, my experience at the Siriraj was very positive (except for the phone theft which apparently is common both in Thai private hospitals and UK public ones - according to my friends). The care from the nurses was extremely professional and the doctor was the kind of man I like, willing to roll up his sleeves and get his hands "dirty" (something I find very lacking in the more plush private hospitals here). His knowledge was obviously excellent and, as far as I remember it, the equipment and facilities were all fine if not in the most shiny environment. I got a DVD of my operation too, which makes for fascinating watching! I was obviously lucky in that I had the right contacts in my Thai doctor friend. I'm not sure if that helped in my getting treated more quickly. Actually, when I compare my experience with that of my friend who had an operation at Bumrungrad 4-5 years ago, I think the care was much better in the Siriraj.

The advice I would give to any foreigner thinking about getting treatment in a government hospital is to take a Thai friend along. I found that, even though I speak quite good Thai, my knowledge of medical vocabulary obviously needs working on and also when I am tired or stressed all my foreign language ability seems to disappear. In such stressful situations, you don't want to feel alone, and the general staff in the Siriraj would struggle (although some spoke enough English for normal stuff, when pushed to speak in English!).

In short, I would definitely go back to the Siriraj and felt comfortable with the staff there - they really put themselves out for me, even though many of them are seriously overworked.

I attached some photos of my room and, when I was researching the Siriraj, I found a good account posted by someone called Robert Walker who had an operation there several years ago. I found it informative and amusing: http://www.robert-walker.net/writings_full...erationInAB.php

Sorry this has proved to be quite long. Well, hopefully it will be of interest to someone!

I live in a condo and get my cable TV service from a local provider which the condo management arranged as an alternative to True (since there were so many problems with them). However, since the weekend, I haven't been able to get BBC World which I normally get as part of the service.

When I called the service provider, I was told that now BBC World can only be received via True which no longer sells on the rights for other service providers to broadcast this channel.

I don't know much about how cable TV rights are arranged, so I was wondering if this is correct.

I had previously had a TV package from True but their service was so bad that I cancelled it and swore never to get any service from them again. Could anyone shed any light on this?

Apologies if this is in the wrong sub-forum. I've only just figured out how to create a post ... slow, I know!

I lived in Bangladesh from 2002 to 2004 when I was a VSO volunteer up in the north-east, near the border with the Indian states of Meghalaya and Assam. I used to go over from Sylhet to the north-eastern states of India quite regularly. We also used to get a bus from Dhaka to Kolkata for some R&R. The bus we took was the international bus and cost in 2004 about GBP10 return. We had to get out at the Benapole border and do the formalities but otherwise it was a direct service. It took all day though and that particular border crossing point is notorious for corruption. To get a tourist visa for Bangladesh, you need to get a letter of invitation (presume you can get one from a hotel in Dhaka if you book ahead).

Check out this site for details:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/bangladesh/transport/getting-there-away

I also believe that they opened the final bit of the rail line between Dhaka and Kolkata after I left, which would be a nice trip.

There were no border crossings between Bangladesh and Myanmar and I believe that is still the case. So, your options for onward travel are to leave by air (Biman flight to BKK via Yangon or TG flight direct to BKK – neither are particularly cheap). Or you could go via one of these two border crossings:

The Akhaura - Agartala (in Indian Tripura) crossing

The Tamabil border crossing (1 hours drive east of Sylhet) to the Indian state of Megahalaya (a friendly border crossing with no trouble ever experienced from the staff there) and then by local shared taxi to Shillong and on to Gauwahati where there are flights (although I wasn’t aware of any to BKK).

It is true that you need to pay a departure tax at the Sonali Bank (either in Dhaka or in Sylhet). Sonali Bank in Dhaka is way down town so prepared for the mad traffic jams, and in Sylhet it’s easier to find being in town on the road leading to Sylhet airport.

Getting a visa to India isn’t a problem but don’t mention that you want to go to Guawahati, Shillong, etc because they can be difficult about that, telling you that you can’t go there for security reasons. That’s true about some areas e.g. Nagaland, Assam but not for just going to Shillong or Guawahati.

From India, I’m not sure how you get to Myanmar … maybe someone else has some information on that … good luck!

I'm not sure if this would help but my friend just got an e-visa to go to Cambodia. Might save you some pages in your passport:

http://evisa.mfaic.gov.kh/e-visa/vindex.aspx

Hi, thanks for all the useful advice on this thread so far. I have some questions of my own about the process for applying for Permanent Residence and would be grateful for any advice.

I've been working for a big multinational company in Thailand for nearly 4 years (unbroken Non-Immigrant B visa extensions). I believe I meet the criteria for PR except for the salary requirements (local contract!). Last year I earned on average (before tax and including annual bonus) 71,500 baht a month. This year, I earned 81,000 baht a month. That would mean I fall below the threshold of 80,000 baht a month over the past 2 years.

Now, would it be possible to make up the shortfall in tax payments that would have been due if I had earned 80,000 baht a month for the past 2 years?

I also own 2 condos worth about 6 million baht in total (bought in 2005 and 2006/7) and speak quite good Thai. Would that count for anything .... or should I just wait and apply next year?

What's the status about last year's applications?

What's the deadline for this year?

Finally, if anyone has any lawyer they could recommend, I'd be most grateful to hear about them whether I apply this year or next (PM me is OK).

Thanks in advance for any sensible advice.

Prices increase the world over... deal with it and stop moaning!!!

This is basically true. As average salaries increase, how can one expect prices of goods to stay the same???

Who doesn't want and expect to have their wages increased? As employers pay increased wages, they must eventually charge more for their goods.

On behalf of those who work here, Thai and foreign, I can only say that I hope people are having their salaries increased in line with all these price rises. I work for an international company here (on a local contract though) and, like my Thai colleagues, last January our salary increases were actually less than inflation, despite the company making plenty of money!

I tend to travel on the buses in Bangkok regularly and, although they are very cheap indeed, I have noticed the fares rising regularly ... OK OK, the non-a/c buses now cost all of 7 baht where they used to cost 4 baht only about 2 years ago... not a lot to me but surely this is significant for a Thai person, particularly in view of salaries only getting increased once a year. That means that, what with all the other price hikes, life will have been certainly been a bit of a pinch for many people over the last year. I seem to remember that "back home" the public transport fares only were increased once a year.

It's not a complaint by the way, more of an observation.