Don't Get Rammed By Ram Hospital In Chiang Mai!

[swain]

My Thai wife is about 7 months pregnant and we have been going monthly for ultrasounds and to check up on the babies development to Ram hospital in Chiang Mai. We were planning on having our baby delivered there. We heard a rumor about prices going up and confirmed it today. Regular child birth prices have gone up over night from the price we were originally quoted 25,000 to 35,000 baht. C-section birth from 40,000 to 50,000 baht. This does not include anything but the birth itself, the price of the room for over night stay, and just about everything else is extra. This is almost more expensive then Bumrungrad packaged deals in Bangkok and of course Ram is no Bumrungrad. We had to spend a night just recently because my wife had a fever and they wanted to get some fluids in her. When we got the bill there was no itemization and when I asked for it they printed it on a separate piece of paper gave it to me and then asked for it back, meaning we were not to leave the hospital with this breakdown. Not sure what the deal was with this but it seemed shady. My wife is now comfortable with the doctor (as we have been going there 7 months already) and so it looks like I am going to have the baby there to keep the stress down to a minimum. Would be interested in hearing any other negative experiences that you or others have had with birthing a baby at Ram hospital. Also if I was going to move to another hospital which one would you recommend?

Edited February 18, 2007 by swain

[Ta22]

Cos is your child here , so it would not be nice to say which is better hospital .

i can tell you what i know but the choice is yours .

my God son which is 1 years old . is born at " mae dek dek " ( sound like )

is near " see ping mung" ( sound like )

is a hospital that is special at child birth - if you want check it out - might not be as high end at RAM . but if i recall i think is like 10k - 15k or so . much cheaper .. and since there are cheaper . i am sure alot of thai had gaven birth there and this way i am sure the Doctor is full or experience .

If you need a Map Pm me - too lazy to draw a map everytime soneone ask something or some where so if you do have trouble finding the places let me know and would behappy to draw it for you .

Edited February 18, 2007 by Ta22

[p1p]

The Mother and Child hospital is on Pracha Samphan road, beside Thai Channel 7 and almost opposite the big pig slaughterhouse, and would probably be among the cheaper options for giving birth in Chiang Mai.

Ram is becoming far too self important, thinking they can charge the earth. I think it's time for a new thread on this subject.

[Ta22]

The Mother and Child hospital hospital thai name is ( mea dek dek ) or something . is near a temple . and also Channel 11 station or something or is it 3 or 7 whahahha

i just called a friends she confirm she paid like 7k 2 years ago .and is a loan somemore . whahhahaha

[richard10365]

I think if you took your wife to the amphur where she comes from the childbirth will be free. My son was born in a hospital about 20km from the Laos border. They did a good job. My wife had had a c-section and it was free.

If you pay a little extra money, you can get a private room. The prices are very cheap. less than 1000/night. I slept in the private room with my wife and son.

[too true]

If your wife is from a village and is used to small local hospitals, go for the mother and child hospital. But if she's used to private city hospitals, mae lae dek is scary. And maybe it's easy for you guys (men) to say that the doctors are qualified and it's not that bad, but having a child is a huge experience, and if you're not comfortable in your surroundings it's not going to be a very positive experience.

I know Thai women who have had babies there and have visited friends having babies there and have taken my own children for immunizations there and my son was taken there by ambulance when he was 1 and suddenly started convulsing and drooling and stopped breathing for a short time. He was there long enough for his father and I to walk in, have a look round, attempt to speak to doctors and nurses..... and then we got in a songtaeow and headed for a different hospital. It's not the hospital I'd want to be at if there were any complications during delivery.

Check out Suan Dok. I've heard great things about their delivery setup and it should be a far sight cheaper than Ram.

Cheers,

tt

[Ta22]

like i said this is a complex question .. cos . by giving suggestion . we only view from one end of the event .

so the father should be the one making the choice .

i know of thai .. who fly to singapore jut to give birthday , it would be 7k SGD . no less .

but of cos you get the best care and service .

then again . there are people giving all over thailand . some giving brith using labour maid . in villages . ( does it still happen nowaday ? just an idea whhaah

- which ever you feel best would be the answer . we are here just to give you more option of choice .

good luck and best wishes to you and your wife and child

[tigerbeer]

I have had three kids born in CHiang mai ram. The last one we just had was supposed to be at about 48,000 for c-section. But according to them, if you were doing a follow up prior to the price increase last july, you can ask for the "old package". of course not many patients now can qualify for the older package.

i do share some of the sentiments here that chiang mai are overcharging nowdays. as p1p pointed out, they have too much self profit thinking rather than patient welfare. Recently my wife was recommended to have a CT-scan for some reason. she did the CT scan and according to the Radiologist Pim, the pictures taken were not clear enough and recommended MRI instead. So we went to the MRI room and pictures were a lot clearer. DIagnosed whatever problem and came up with a bill for both the CT scan and MRI. I do not think we needed to pay for both as they were ones who should have recommended the right machine for the job.

antibiotics prescibed are always top of the line and even for just a mild fever, flu, cold when not actually needed. not only that, prices are almost double for some of the medications sold at the CM Ram pharmacy. We have just been visiting there for many years and missus doesnt feel comfortable anywhere else. so what i do is visit the doctor and tell them that i would buy the medications on my own outside. (not worried about losing face when i can save lots of $$$ in the process).

there are other places to go to and its really up to you.

[cmsally]

Personally I would recommend McCormick or Sripat (private section) of Suan Dokh.

Although as a woman I would pay more to stay with the same doctor who knows my medical history.

When things go wrong in childbirth (although they usually don't) it can be a very quick chain of events with some quick decisions needed, so better

to stay with your usual doctor who knows what's going on.

Not wanting to seem macabre but the wife of a friend's employee had complications in childbirth at Mae La Dek and when they eventually transferred her to Suan Dokh it was too late and she died en route. That was about 10 yrs ago but I would imagine not much has changed.

You could always ask your doctor if he works only from one hospital or not and also press the hospital for the old price if you registered before the price increase; worth a try.

[meadish_sweetball]

antibiotics prescibed are always top of the line and even for just a mild fever, flu, cold when not actually needed.

Overprescription of antibiotics is endemic here, even in cases where it does more harm than good. Chiang Mai Ram are not alone in this, other hospitals do it too... but like you say, Ram has a tendency of always trying to push the most expensive medication on you, even when there are generic alternatives that work just as well.

[too true]

Personally I would recommend McCormick or Sripat (private section) of Suan Dokh.

Although as a woman I would pay more to stay with the same doctor who knows my medical history.

When things go wrong in childbirth (although they usually don't) it can be a very quick chain of events with some quick decisions needed, so better

to stay with your usual doctor who knows what's going on.

Not wanting to seem macabre but the wife of a friend's employee had complications in childbirth at Mae La Dek and when they eventually transferred her to Suan Dokh it was too late and she died en route. That was about 10 yrs ago but I would imagine not much has changed.

You could always ask your doctor if he works only from one hospital or not and also press the hospital for the old price if you registered before the price increase; worth a try.

Sripat, that's the one...

As a woman who's had children here, I would never ever ever go to Mae Lae Dek for anything more than immunizations or dental check ups for my kids. And after our last visit there and encountering a nurse who was incredibly rude to us and other patients, my husband won't even set foot in the place. Gives me the shivers to think of anyone having to have an operation there. Of course there are thousands upon thousands of women who have had babies there and that's basically what it's for, but do you not think those women would have chosen a more expensive private hospital if they could have afforded it? Having a baby at MLD is not what a woman chooses, it's where she goes when there is no other choice.