Fun Times in Government Hospital Samui

[Mario666]

I was first admitted to the medical ward at Nathon Govt. Hospital in Samui for cellulitis from an insect bite.

 

There were all sorts of people (mostly Thai...a couple of Farangs)....Many very sick and some close to death....as you found out next morning....when they were GONE!

 

The nurses do <deleted> ALL except administer IV Drugs (in my case for 2 hours each session 3 times a day) or ask you if you have had a shit or a piss and take your blood pressure.

 

So the poor Thai patients get their relatives to take care of them on the ward.....Most of them have 4 or 5 family around the bed 24/7.

 

They sleep on the floor.

 

There was no air-con, only fans...half of which don't work and those that do squeak like crazy because never maintained.

 

So they left the doors and windows open 24/7 which invited mozzies and all sorts in to add to the fun.

 

After 5 days on the ward my foot and leg were still heavily swollen and not showing signs of improvement so they decided that I may need surgery and so I was moved to the surgical ward.

 

At least there they do not allow the relatives to stay overnight, but the downside is that they also leave the doors open and stray cats and dogs wander into the ward at meal times.

 

They sometimes eat the leftovers that are put on a trolley at the end of the ward (for disposal).....But the food is so crap that not only will poor Thais not eat it, but even the Mutts and Moggies turn their noses up at it!

 

Once on the surgical ward you gain a whole different experience......Unlike the medical ward where patients die randomly from "Who knows what?"...there are people in various states of distress.....amputees crying in pain until they get their morphine, etc.

 

There was one poor kid who was totally mashed by a motorbike accident who was covered from head to toe in bandages which made him look just like an Egyptian Mummy except that the bandages were red as he was still bleeding.

 

At one point I saw a cat sitting on his chest licking the bandages.....the nurses did nothing.

 

Mercifully after 11 days the swelling had reduced enough for them to let me go, but they checked that I was flying that day and gave me a "Do it yourself" syringe of antibiotics and told me to inject it into my belly just before boarding the flight.

 

Have you got any fun Thai medical experiences you would like to share?

[lannarebirth]

Cellulitis treatment can sometimes run up to 30 days of IV antibiotic medication. If I were you I would probably seek a follow up appointment in a more fitting setting to ensure you are free of infection.

[Lamkyong]

and all that was FUN ??                  

[Mario666]

1 hour ago, lannarebirth said:

Cellulitis treatment can sometimes run up to 30 days of IV antibiotic medication. If I were you I would probably seek a follow up appointment in a more fitting setting to ensure you are free of infection.

Thanks for your concern, but this happened 5 years ago.

 

Unfortunately once you have had cellulitis it can return at any time, particularly if you get a new infection which I did following a motorbike run-in when a Soi dog ran out of the jungle causing a major "mishap".....Won't bore you with the details of that!

 

Also got a dog bite from a mutt which was blocking the entrance to my local 7/11 so I have had plenty of opportunity to re-visit the aforementioned establishment.

 

.....It is still the same!

 

I can't get medical insurance at anything less than a "Getty Ransom" due to previous claims, but if I get in any serious bother I will go private (<deleted> the expense) until or if I am able to fly back to the UK for treatment, which I am still paying for via Her Majesty's Customs and Revenue......she's got a nice pad!

 

 

Edited April 8, 2018 by Mario666

[Thongkorn]

Yes but not fun .My friend had a Bar in a well know Soy. In Pattaya .She was Thai. A young girl of 18 came looking for work. Her parents had forced her to find work. Before anyone says her choice. Try getting a  decent job if your a Thai female. Anyway she was there three days. She did not like selling her body. So she bought a drug to ease the embarrassment and pain. Nobody knew this until they found her in a coma the forth day. When she did not come out of her room. I was there at the time I heard screams and run upstairs tried to wake her up not knowing she was in a coma.An Ambulance was called and she was taken to a Govenment hospital in Chon Buri. Although my friend had known her only a few days she felt responsible, we went to see her for a few days although she was in a coma. One day went to see her as usual when we got there her bed was empty . We was told that she had died due to unknown substances in her brain which caused her to fit and slip into a coma. The drug she bought was laced with brick dust or some other packing agent for drugs. This is the Hospital part every day we went the Hospital was full of poor people I felt great pity for them. They did there best. In treating this girl.At the side of the bed was the young girls bag.nobody would touch it for fear of bad spirits. Usual Thai superstition. I opened her bag which had all her worldly positions in.I found a book with phone numbers in. My Thai friend found one which said Mam/Mer.She phoned the number and got a lady at the other end which in fact was her mam. My friend told her tactfully that  her daughter had died. I heard her mother scream I had to find a quiet corner to hide my tears.. To cut to the chase her mother did not even have the money to get on a bus and claim the body of her daughter. My friend and I paid the local monks to cremate her body. The girls in the soy found out and although they did not know her most gave freely to pay for the blessing of the property.again Thai superstition.I. Have great  regards for Thai hospitals and their efforts  with very little funding . I have given freely my time for a few weeks over the last 10 years to help, although no work permit. Which is a fallacy. My Thai mother in law works there. So really I would stop moaning and go private next time because the Govenment hospital do their best.

[colinneil]

mario666 great fantasy story, you should get sued by the hospital for defamation.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, Mario666 said:

I can't get medical insurance at anything less than a "Getty Ransom" due to previous claims, but if I get in any serious bother I will go private (<deleted> the expense) until or if I am able to fly back to the UK for treatment, which I am still paying for via Her Majesty's Customs and Revenue......she's got a nice pad!

 

I was going to ask, 1. Why would you choose to go to such a place for treatment? and 2. Once you discovered what it was, why stay there?

 

You only get one life, and a bad or poorly operated hospital can end it for you very quickly.

 

There's lots of hospital options available in Thailand across the range of costs. It's not an either/or choice between dumps like what you describe and the supposed luxury/high cost international places.

 

Edited April 8, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Mario666]

33 minutes ago, colinneil said:

mario666 great fantasy story, you should get sued by the hospital for defamation.

For telling the truth?????

[colinneil]

No you are not, you are fantasizing.

I am better placed than most on here to comment on government hospitals having spent many months in 3 different government hospitals.

Only 1 person is allowed to stay over night with a patient, food is reasonable,farangs get their own food if asked for.

Dogs/ cats is in your ,mind not in the hospitals.

[Mario666]

11 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I was going to ask, 1. Why would you choose to go to such a place for treatment? and 2. Once you discovered what it was, why stay there?

 

You only get one life, and a bad or poorly operated hospital can end it for you very quickly.

 

There's lots of hospital options available in Thailand across the range of costs. It's not an either/or choice between dumps like what you describe and the supposed luxury/high cost international places.

 

Thank you for your interest.

 

I understand your sentiment, however my choices were limited at the time because my money was tied up in a large property deal ....as they say "Asset rich, cash poor"....Fortunately I am better placed cash wise as the deal materialised, but I still refuse to pay the Rip-Off Health Insurance fees...Next time I get sick I will just pay or go back to "Blighty" where I pay my taxes and NHS contributions for "Free" Healthcare!

[Mario666]

15 minutes ago, colinneil said:

No you are not, you are fantasizing.

I am better placed than most on here to comment on government hospitals having spent many months in 3 different government hospitals.

Only 1 person is allowed to stay over night with a patient, food is reasonable,farangs get their own food if asked for.

Dogs/ cats is in your ,mind not in the hospitals.

Well Sir...I stand to correct you.

 

Have you ever visited Nathon Hospital????

 

Please do not contradict me or imply my account is falsified unless you have.

 

As regards food they give you the Farang meal by default if you are a Farang...normally egg fried rice....you can ask for the Thai option which is usually some disgusting version of a Thai curry which even the Thais and or the cats and dogs won't eat!

 

Call me a liar and I will gladly visit you to explain xxxx

 

 

Edited April 8, 2018 by Mario666

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'd just say, as Sheryl has often noted here in these kinds of past discussions, there is an extremely wide range of government hospitals to be found in Thailand -- the research university places in BKK, provincial hospitals, district hospitals, local hospitals, etc.

 

And I have no doubt, that range covers the extremes from primitive to quite modern and sophisticated.

 

[Mario666]

17 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I'd just say, as Sheryl has often noted here in these kinds of past discussions, there is an extremely wide range of government hospitals to be found in Thailand -- the research university places in BKK, provincial hospitals, district hospitals, local hospitals, etc.

 

And I have no doubt, that range covers the extremes from primitive to quite modern and sophisticated.

 

Well Thank you TallGuy for your sense of reason.

 

If Mr. Colinneil has ever visited Nathon hospital in the last 5 years then maybe I could accept his subjective opinion.

 

His attitude and remarks would clearly suggest that he has not!

 

Cheers

[colinneil]

27 minutes ago, Mario666 said:

Well Sir...I stand to correct you.

 

Have you ever visited Nathon Hospital????

 

Please do not contradict me or imply my account is falsified unless you have.

 

As regards food they give you the Farang meal by default if you are a Farang...normally egg fried rice....you can ask for the Thai option which is usually some disgusting version of a Thai curry which even the Thais and or the cats and dogs won't eat!

 

Call me a liar and I will gladly visit you to explain xxxx

 

 

Are you threathening me?

Your account is total nonsense, and you should be ashamed of yourself for disrespecting nurses who do a fantastic job, normally in very difficult circumstances, especially, when they are helping ungrateful farangs.

Shame on you.

Edited April 8, 2018 by colinneil

[Mario666]

4 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Are you threathening me?

Your account is total nonsense, and you should be ashamed of yourself for disrespecting nurses who do a fantastic job, normally in very difficult circumstances, especially, when they are helping ungrateful farangs.

Shame on you.

No Sir,

 

I am not threatening in you any way and also I do not hold the nurses accountable for the treatment I was given....I hold the Nathon Hospital

 

management accountable.

 

I did question the nurses about why they let animals on to the wards and they said that one of the dogs belonged to the Hospital Director.

 

Feel free to challenge my version of events if you have any evidence to the contrary.

 

I do not like to be accused of falsification!

 

 

 

 

 

[Mario666]

2 hours ago, Thongkorn said:

Yes but not fun .My friend had a Bar in a well know Soy. In Pattaya .She was Thai. A young girl of 18 came looking for work. Her parents had forced her to find work. Before anyone says her choice. Try getting a  decent job if your a Thai female. Anyway she was there three days. She did not like selling her body. So she bought a drug to ease the embarrassment and pain. Nobody knew this until they found her in a coma the forth day. When she did not come out of her room. I was there at the time I heard screams and run upstairs tried to wake her up not knowing she was in a coma.An Ambulance was called and she was taken to a Govenment hospital in Chon Buri. Although my friend had known her only a few days she felt responsible, we went to see her for a few days although she was in a coma. One day went to see her as usual when we got there her bed was empty . We was told that she had died due to unknown substances in her brain which caused her to fit and slip into a coma. The drug she bought was laced with brick dust or some other packing agent for drugs. This is the Hospital part every day we went the Hospital was full of poor people I felt great pity for them. They did there best. In treating this girl.At the side of the bed was the young girls bag.nobody would touch it for fear of bad spirits. Usual Thai superstition. I opened her bag which had all her worldly positions in.I found a book with phone numbers in. My Thai friend found one which said Mam/Mer.She phoned the number and got a lady at the other end which in fact was her mam. My friend told her tactfully that  her daughter had died. I heard her mother scream I had to find a quiet corner to hide my tears.. To cut to the chase her mother did not even have the money to get on a bus and claim the body of her daughter. My friend and I paid the local monks to cremate her body. The girls in the soy found out and although they did not know her most gave freely to pay for the blessing of the property.again Thai superstition.I. Have great  regards for Thai hospitals and their efforts  with very little funding . I have given freely my time for a few weeks over the last 10 years to help, although no work permit. Which is a fallacy. My Thai mother in law works there. So really I would stop moaning and go private next time because the Govenment hospital do their best.

Thank you for your response...Such a tragic story....Poor mite!

 

Maybe my account came out wrong.

 

I was not attempting to criticize the nursing staff....they can only do what they are instructed do.

 

The fault lies with the hospital management....Can't really say anymore....44 and all that!

Edited April 8, 2018 by Mario666

[JOC]

To put things in perspective:

 

Yearly budget for the military: 211 billion baht

Yearly budget for healthcare:  151 billion baht

 

It is expensive to stage coups and suppress civil liberties.....

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, JOC said:

To put things in perspective:

 

Yearly budget for the military: 211 billion baht

Yearly budget for healthcare:  151 billion baht

 

It is expensive to stage coups and suppress civil liberties.....

 

And don't forget, some portion of that health care spending I'd presume is to pay for military health care -- health care covered provided free AFAIK to the entire military ranks.

 

And then there's the whole network of various military service hospitals and such, but I'm not sure whether those get budgeted under the health care portion or under the military portion above.