[Recommendation] : Give Birth - Doctor/Hospital Banngkok

[21Ch]

Hi All,

 

I am new to this forum, i am trying to find old thread but i couldn't seems find the right answer for my question. So i am posting here again.

 

Background: wife's pregnancy test is showing positive results yesterday(*Happy*), one issue we need to sort out is to decide a hospital and doctor to give birth.

 

Questions:

1. We learnt that choosing a doctor is more critical than choosing a hospital, in this case, we would appreciate if anyone here have experience and willing to recommend us a doctor.

(refer to Q2, doctor in silom/sathorn area is preferable)

Quality of doctor we prefer:

- Patient, as we may have a lot of questions

- we prefer natural birth, so we are looking a doctor not pushing us for cesarean

- English speaking

 

2. We lived in Silom area, so for our convenience, we shortlisted BNH, St. Louis & BKK Christian as the hospital we would use, but more suggestion are welcome for our consideration. 

Quality of Hospital we prefer:

- Close to our living area

- Facilities, we come across some thread that explained about the importance of having NICU(in one day, this is all i learnt), thus, well equipped hospital/clinic still sounds important to us.

- Price: we are fine with the cost we found on BNH(a more expensive one in my area) website, but we are unsure if there's any hidden cost and potential add-on charge to the fee, therefore, we thought it would be good to understand more on this.

- both we and wife is working, so time is limited, prefer to have a less crowded hospital (with small premiums on price is fine for us)

 

3. we also learnt that the cost of complication on childbirth can be very high(e.g: NICU), so wonder if anybody have got recommendation on insurance that cover this?

 

Besides recommending doctor/hospital/insurance, we would be happy to hear any advise/considerations that we should watch out in this matter.

Thank you very much for your advise in advance!

 

[lopburi3]

You did not mention - your wife is not Thai?  If Thai it might have an effect on response provided.

[Sheryl]

Many insurance policies excludes maternity related costs and even those who do not, will not cover for a pre-exisitng pregnancy. With all insurance you need to get it before you need it.  Keep this in mind and act on it, for both yourself, your wife and (once born) the baby assuming the latter two are nto Thai (see last paragraph)

 

Do not deliver anywhere that you cannot afford what it will cost if there are serious complications; it is very hard to arrange transfer of a critically ill newborn. At a private hospital this can reach 4-5 million baht easily. While the odds of that occurring are small, that fact will be of no help if you turn out to be in the unlucky minority, and it is impossible to predict this.

 

If in a pinch you could come up with that amount of money,  and are willing to risk that level of expenditure in order to use a private hospital, I would suggest either St Louis or BCH and you need to screen the doctors carefully as to their commitment to natural birth, also be sure the doctor you choose is on staff full time and not a consultant as the consultants are usually at a government hospital by day and thus might nto end up doing the actual delivery, in which case agreement you have with them might not follow through. There is a TV member who had a natural birth at BCH recently and was pleased with her doctor, I will find out the name and get back to you.

 

If you would nto be able to come up with that kind of money, do not deliver in a private hospital, use a government hospital. Chulalongkorn University Hospital is excellent and located in the Silom area on Rama IV. It has plenty of private rooms in a very nice new building and an after hours clinic, and natural birth is not usually  a problem at government hospitals the way it is at private ones.

 

I am assuming your wife is nto a Thai citizen. If she is, she and your newborn can get everything they need for free (and you can pay extra for private room) at a government hospital. It should be the one where she is listed in a tabian ban (and that can be changed if necessary to reflect where actually living, requires some bureaucratic hassles but well worth it).

 

 

[21Ch]

56 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Many insurance policies excludes maternity related costs and even those who do not, will not cover for a pre-exisitng pregnancy. With all insurance you need to get it before you need it.  Keep this in mind and act on it, for both yourself, your wife and (once born) the baby assuming the latter two are nto Thai (see last paragraph)

 

Do not deliver anywhere that you cannot afford what it will cost if there are serious complications; it is very hard to arrange transfer of a critically ill newborn. At a private hospital this can reach 4-5 million baht easily. While the odds of that occurring are small, that fact will be of no help if you turn out to be in the unlucky minority, and it is impossible to predict this.

 

If in a pinch you could come up with that amount of money,  and are willing to risk that level of expenditure in order to use a private hospital, I would suggest either St Louis or BCH and you need to screen the doctors carefully as to their commitment to natural birth, also be sure the doctor you choose is on staff full time and not a consultant as the consultants are usually at a government hospital by day and thus might nto end up doing the actual delivery, in which case agreement you have with them might not follow through. There is a TV member who had a natural birth at BCH recently and was pleased with her doctor, I will find out the name and get back to you.

 

If you would nto be able to come up with that kind of money, do not deliver in a private hospital, use a government hospital. Chulalongkorn University Hospital is excellent and located in the Silom area on Rama IV. It has plenty of private rooms in a very nice new building and an after hours clinic, and natural birth is not usually  a problem at government hospitals the way it is at private ones.

 

I am assuming your wife is nto a Thai citizen. If she is, she and your newborn can get everything they need for free (and you can pay extra for private room) at a government hospital. It should be the one where she is listed in a tabian ban (and that can be changed if necessary to reflect where actually living, requires some bureaucratic hassles but well worth it).

 

 

Thanks Sheryl for your advise and prompt reply, appreciate this!

 

For insurance, what we are after is an insurance that cover the cost of complications, not the cost of annual check up or giving birth, because this is already a pre-existing condition. we supposed the complications should not be considered as a pre-existing condition. but anyway, it really depend son the availability in the market, so just to ask if anybody have the insurance before.

 

May i also Clarify our understand with you that the cost of complication at St. Louis/BCH can easily goes 4-5 Million?(as a range estimate, we know it really depends on case). For us to access the cost of complication, do you know if the hospital normally provide list of charges on complications upon our request?

 

Also, would also interested to know if we are using Chula, does it take long queue before we can meet the doctor/get the service? As mentioned,  we would prefer not spending too much time in the queue. so we are finding a good balance.

 

You are right, we both are non-thai.

 

Also, would happy if you (or anyone) could name us a few doctor that you would recommend(if any) as a reference for us, because based on what we found so far, nowhere telling their experience with the doctor they used.

 

Again, thanks!

[21Ch]

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

You did not mention - your wife is not Thai?  If Thai it might have an effect on response provided.

thanks for highlight this, we both are non-thai.

[Sheryl]

57 minutes ago, 21Ch said:

Thanks Sheryl for your advise and prompt reply, appreciate this!

 

For insurance, what we are after is an insurance that cover the cost of complications, not the cost of annual check up or giving birth, because this is already a pre-existing condition. we supposed the complications should not be considered as a pre-existing condition. but anyway, it really depend son the availability in the market, so just to ask if anybody have the insurance before.

 

May i also Clarify our understand with you that the cost of complication at St. Louis/BCH can easily goes 4-5 Million?(as a range estimate, we know it really depends on case). For us to access the cost of complication, do you know if the hospital normally provide list of charges on complications upon our request?

 

Also, would also interested to know if we are using Chula, does it take long queue before we can meet the doctor/get the service? As mentioned,  we would prefer not spending too much time in the queue. so we are finding a good balance.

 

You are right, we both are non-thai.

 

Also, would happy if you (or anyone) could name us a few doctor that you would recommend(if any) as a reference for us, because based on what we found so far, nowhere telling their experience with the doctor they used.

 

Again, thanks!

I don't think any insurer will cover an unborn baby in fact most will not enroll an infant until 1 year of age.  There are various "family plans" available, best to work with a broker to find what you need.

 

You can't get a breakdown of costs per complication because it does not work like that, charges are not per diagnosis or complication but according to treatment given and duration. The same complication could cost very different amounts depending on severity. 4-5 million is worst case scenario e.g.  months in NICU on a respirator, perhaps specialized surgeries (heart defect etc). Short term NIU care without surgery would come to less but still likely exceed 500K.

 

Yes, there are queues at Chula even using the after hours clinic. One option might be to get all antenatal care at either BCH or  St Louis but plan on delivering at Chula.

 

At BCH, a TV member was happy with this doctor https://www.bch.in.th/en/doctor-th-4/item/689-obs.html

 

At St Louis, I met this female OB and while not in relation to delivery I was very impressed with her honest and forthright manner and would be surprised if she was nto supportive of patient preferences:

 

Dr. Petcharat Pitahongnun - the website is only in Thai so will have to call the hospital for her hours

 

 

[Sheryl]

P.S. the number one place in Thailand for natural birth is Samitivej Hospital, they even offer water births. But VERY expensive if any complications ocur.

 

there is a TV member who is a doula, you might ocntact her as she might have soem specific suggestions re OBs at Chula -  https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/profile/53212-kannon99/

[21Ch]

I have obtained a breakdown cost of complications from a hospital. Not sure if i can post it here to get advise?
And i m also unsure if there’s any rule here stating i shouldn’t disclose the hospital name?


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[Sheryl]

There is nothing wrong with listing costs by hospital name.

 

However there is no way you could have gotten full costing on possible complications as charges are not per diagnoses/complication but per the care given and the same complications can entail different types and duration of care depending in severity.

 

For example a premature infant might or might not need NICU care and if needed duration could be as short as a few days and as long as many months. Respirator might or might nto be required and, if required, duration of use can be anywhere from a day to months. Multiple other expensive treatments and drugs ditto.

[21Ch]

Hi, can u advise me the name of the doctor at bch again?
I could seems find the name of the doctor at the website given.
We are exploring bch now.



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[Sheryl]

Dr. Chotima Na Rayong at Bangkok Christian http://www.bch.in.th/en/doctor-th-4/item/689-obs.html