Tourist police to the rescue - British pensioner has no relatives left and owed 17,000 baht to the hospital

[Matzzon]

2 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

I love it how the armchair judges look down on this guy. Maybe he did have an exit plan but it failed? He lost his wife 2 years ago. A million things could have happened to him between his wife's death and today. 

 

Pure BS! So, if things start to go the wrong way, then you do not take necessary steps to protect yourself accordingly? You just wait until you are in the gutter with no chance to help yourself?

This has nothing to do with armchair judges. Once again it´s common sense that has to prevail before it´s too late.

[Odysseus123]

13 minutes ago, nausea said:

This is the Thailand I love. A lot of these small acts of kindness go on all the time, all over the place, you never hear about them much though. Live here for a while and you realise your average Thai is a pretty decent bloke, or blokess.

They are indeed...

 

Well done to the tourist police and ,obviously,the staff at the hospital.

 

I hope he gets back to his Thai home okay-he has a few decisions to make,I guess.

[BritManToo]

14 minutes ago, Oldie said:

Is it still like this? I think they changed this. Even a year before this change they charged me 500 Baht for a doctor at the Pattaya City Hospital. But I remember when I went to the Banglamung hospital about 20 years ago. They didn't know what to charge me as foreigner and so I paid nothing at all. But I am afraid this time is over. 

I have a regular appointment every 3 months, 50bht + pills @ 1bht each.

[BritManToo]

29 minutes ago, smedly said:

people like him make it difficult for the rest of us who do things by the book - sell his car and deport him

Hospitals that overcharge foreigners x10 are the problem.

[transam]

30 minutes ago, smedly said:

people like him make it difficult for the rest of us who do things by the book - sell his car and deport him

His dilemma has no impact on your life..............

[Oldie]

7 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I have a regular appointment every 3 months, 50bht + pills @ 1bht each.

Where is this? In Pattaya? 

[Grumpy one]

3 hours ago, steven100 said:

so he has been here 15 yrs and has no money and no relatives. geeeze .... 

he certainly didn't plan his exit.  Go fund me ... here we go again.

I say raise $800 and throw him on the plane to the UK.  One way ticket. 

Maybe he simply doesn't carry that amount on him.

Waiting for pension payday can be difficult for some

[Canuck1966]

3 hours ago, sanuk711 said:

It's not a fortune is it....& the Thai's have acted quite well with him.

But it is another brick in the wall of people who have the opinion that all non Thai residents should have insurance. Sometimes its hard to argue the case against it.

Unpaid bills are a minuscule amount of total bills paid and should be written off as a cost of doing business and promoting yourself as a tourist destination

99% of people pay and pay handsomely 

Some of the padding in the bills is outrageous 

[Oldie]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

His dilemma has no impact on your life..............

This is not correct. The immigration has to react. Now for instance I have to show after 90 days that I still have at least 400000 Baht on the account. I never had less than a million on this account as long as I can remember... But now they check it because some people tried to cheat. I so we all have to go there and prove that we are not cheating. 

[transam]

34 minutes ago, Oldie said:

This is not correct. The immigration has to react. Now for instance I have to show after 90 days that I still have at least 400000 Baht on the account. I never had less than a million on this account as long as I can remember... But now they check it because some people tried to cheat. I so we all have to go there and prove that we are not cheating. 

Chummy, there are farang blokes in LOS on a zillion years overstay, there are farang blokes in LOS selling drugs, there are farang blokes in LOS running businesses that don't get looked at, and you are pointing a finger at an old widower pensioner with a problem. 

 

Tut tut.............???? 

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The Brit told the police that he had been in Thailand for 15 years and had no relatives left either in the kingdom or in his home country.

 

His Thai wife Wanphen wife whom he lived with in the Huay Yai area of Pattaya died two years ago leaving him all alone.

Bit confused here. His wife is dead, so would have no marriage visa, and he would need 800,000 in the bank for a retirement visa or atleast 65,000 a month income. OK he could have used an agent, but surely that would flag up a little back hander somewhere.

 

I guess 500,000 in backhanders over 15 years could buy you a little leeway 

 

[Oldie]

1 minute ago, transam said:

Chummy, there are farang blokes in LOS on a zillion years overstay, there are farang blokes in LOS selling drugs, there are farang blokes in LOS running businesses that don't get looked at, and you are pointing a finger at an old widower pensioner with a problem. 

 

Tut tut.............???? 

You are right that there are many problems. He is just one of them. 

[Keesters]

The story left the reader hanging, notes Thaivisa.

 

Quite typical of Thai reporting. Never think of a question to ask. 

[mike787]

waste of time...

[BritManToo]

58 minutes ago, Oldie said:

This is not correct. The immigration has to react. Now for instance I have to show after 90 days that I still have at least 400000 Baht on the account. I never had less than a million on this account as long as I can remember... But now they check it because some people tried to cheat. I so we all have to go there and prove that we are not cheating. 

Plenty of other VISAs to choose from.

Nobody forces you to take a retirement extension with the 'money in the bank' option.

 

But what upsets me in all these threads is the posters who take pleasure in others misfortune, and wish harm on those less fortunate than ourselves. It's the very definition of 'evil' ...... those who wish others harm.

 

Another for ignore.

[EricTh]

3 hours ago, chrisandsu said:

Government hospitals are 60 baht . 

60 baht for outpatient charge but what about staying one night in  a govt hospital?

[connda]

Ahhh, another story of misfortune.  The holier-than-thou legion arises from its slumber in the primordial ooze of human dispassion to feed on the misery of another human soul. 
Perhaps in a feeble attempt to suck sustenance from this man's suffering in order to make themselves feel superior.

You people who engage in this type of behavior are inhumanly despicable.

[maxcorrigan]

4 hours ago, dcsw53 said:

The hospital should pursue him for the money. What about seizing the vehicle he was driving ?
Too many people over here chancing their arm by not having insurance. Make insurance mandatory, and provide cover at reasonable cost. Premiums would depend on the hospital you want to go to, high for the fancy internationals, lower for the basic municipal.

Yes so glibly told, just try getting insurance over 80 with a bit of medical history, easier said than done, if you can find cover at all, and then all the written clauses in the small print, ie. hardly any cover at all!

[nausea]

4 minutes ago, connda said:

Ahhh, another story of misfortune.  The holier-than-thou legion arises from its slumber in the primordial ooze of human dispassion to feed on the misery of another human soul. 
Perhaps in a feeble attempt to suck sustenance from this man's suffering in order to make themselves feel superior.

You people who engage in this type of behavior are inhumanly despicable.

You should write a novel, your talents are obviously wasted here.

[Odysseus123]

12 minutes ago, maxcorrigan said:

Yes so glibly told, just try getting insurance over 80 with a bit of medical history, easier said than done, if you can find cover at all, and then all the written clauses in the small print, ie. hardly any cover at all!

Much younger than that I'm afraid (65+) and add in a few pre-existing conditions and you are toast-as I can testify personally..

 

Moreover most people that have savings to cover medical costs need to have at least double (if not triple) the amount that they imagine would cover them.

 

Be that as it may-there is no fixed payment for narcissism (it's all about me!") and schadenfreude on TVF..not to mention poor boundaries,lack of social binding and chronic virtue signalling every livelong day.

[shy coconut]

3 hours ago, CaptainCarrot said:

He's been living in Thailand since he retired, so his pension is pegged at what it was the day he retired. Nearer to 400GBP/month I thinthi

The fact that it appears that the police were willing to assist his return to Chon buri

and don't seem to have taken further action suggests to me he may well have the money.

 

Maybe under a mattress or in a safe, who knows, perhaps the cash is in a bank and 

his book is at home. He probably wasn't contemplating a 4 day hospital visit when

he set out, sadly at his age, sudden illnesses can occur without warning.

[Oldie]

50 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Plenty of other VISAs to choose from.

Nobody forces you to take a retirement extension with the 'money in the bank' option.

 

But what upsets me in all these threads is the posters who take pleasure in others misfortune, and wish harm on those less fortunate than ourselves. It's the very definition of 'evil' ...... those who wish others harm.

 

Another for ignore.

Nobody wishes others harm or takes pleasure in others misfortune. They harm themselves if we wish it or not. 

 

And you put posters on your ignore list because they don't share your opinion. Must be a very long list already ????

[soalbundy]

4 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

I love it how the armchair judges look down on this guy. Maybe he did have an exit plan but it failed? He lost his wife 2 years ago. A million things could have happened to him between his wife's death and today. 

 

Indeed, there but for the grace of the absolute go all of us. Don't judge if you haven't walked in his shoes.

[transam]

1 hour ago, Oldie said:

You are right that there are many problems. He is just one of them. 

To be frank chap, I reckon you are the one with a problem....

Silver spoon, apron strings, frightened of shadow........????

[Oldie]

1 minute ago, transam said:

To be frank chap, I reckon you are the one with a problem....

Silver spoon, apron strings, frightened of shadow........????

Sure

[pineapple01]

What was he driving up in.?.

[mickymouse1]

5 hours ago, Wiggy said:

No surprise. It has ceased being an embassy and has become a trade mission.

I dont think the Embassy is there to bail out all those dodgy characters. He lives in the kingdom for 15 years, obviously he has a residence. That means he has a monthly income. He was on a leisure trip to see his mates and enjoy the weekend. Cough up m8,cough up and stop being an A.H

[phutoie2]

5 hours ago, Oldie said:

If he doesn't even have 17000 Baht how did he get a visa? Time to send this guy home before he becomes an even bigger problem. His situation here will be not get better without money. In the end such people create problems for the rest of us here. 

You just got off the boat? 

The bloke is from Chon Buri, getting the annual retirement extension will be the least of his worries. Well if he remembers. 

[transam]

6 minutes ago, mickymouse1 said:

I dont think the Embassy is there to bail out all those dodgy characters. He lives in the kingdom for 15 years, obviously he has a residence. That means he has a monthly income. He was on a leisure trip to see his mates and enjoy the weekend. Cough up m8,cough up and stop being an A.H

Has residency, how did you work that out..?  ????

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, EricTh said:

60 baht for outpatient charge but what about staying one night in  a govt hospital?

It's 200-300bht/night in public ward inclusive of meds.

He would have been in public ward, as he had nobody with him, private rooms require a friend or relative with you.

 

I begin to doubt you've ever been to Thailand.