Cost of Dialysis for Senior Thai Man

[ThatManViv]

Please can someone tell me the usual price for a retired elderly Thai male to have Kidney dialysis twice a week.

I have been friends with this man's daughter for eleven years and she has recently told me she is paying 5000bhat for his treatment every month.

I question this because other Thai people say this treatment is free for a retired Thai person.

Can someone please educate me with the truth.

Thanks for reading

viv

 

[orchis]

My thai friend and her son went to the hospital to learn how to administer dialysis to her elderly mother and got

all necessary raining and materials for free and they did the dialysis at home.

[Sheryl]

Is he receiving hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis? Normally POD is done at home and would need to go to the hospital only for supplies.

 

PD is free unless the patient chooses to pay for a special automated system or requires a special, non-standard solution. Makes no differfence if working or retired. Free for all.

 

If a patient chooses to have hemodialysis despite being a candidate for PD, they must pay for that. However if there is a medical reason why HD must be done, then it is free (again for all, no special rules just for retirees).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[impulse]

46 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Makes no differfence if working or retired. Free for all.

 

Is that under the Thai SS system, or does the money come from somewhere else?  Part of the reason for asking is whether foreigners paying into the Thai SS system qualify for subsidized or free dialysis?

 

On another note, when a Thai friend approached me to help with her "parent's medical bills", it turned out what she really needed was preventive care, to keep the loan sharks from creating health problems for her.  Once she came clean, I loaned her the money and she payed me back every baht over 2 years.  She'd still be paying the loan sharks if she had paid them back at the rate she paid me- probably owing more after 2 years than when she started.  But I was happy to help, and pleasantly surprised to see it all come back, a lot of it even after I left Thailand.  She wasn't my GF, but she was different.

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by impulse

[Sheryl]

13 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Is that under the Thai SS system, or does the money come from somewhere else?  Part of the reason for asking is whether foreigners paying into the Thai SS system qualify for subsidized or free dialysis?

 

 

Universal health care for Thai citizens comes from 3 schemes, all of which cover dialysis:

 

1. Civil Service Social Security Fund - cover civil servants, working or retired. (foreigners may be covered through this if married to a  Thai civil servant)

 

2. Social Security Fund - covers people employed in the formal sector who are not civil servants. there is a payroll deduction for it. Upon leaving work, this cover will cease unless the person opts go continue making the payment privately and does so within 6 months. Most Thais do nto since they have the fall back of the scheme below.  Foreigners are covered under SSF if employed except at private schools, these are exempt from the SS law and many opt not to go under the system.

 

3. Universal Care System (AKA "gold card" or "30 baht scheme") covers all Thai citizens not covered under #1 or #2

 

 

[jackdd]

On 6/3/2021 at 9:42 PM, ThatManViv said:

Please can someone tell me the usual price for a retired elderly Thai male to have Kidney dialysis twice a week.

I have been friends with this man's daughter for eleven years and she has recently told me she is paying 5000bhat for his treatment every month.

I question this because other Thai people say this treatment is free for a retired Thai person.

Can someone please educate me with the truth.

Thanks for reading

viv

The truth is that it's free (maybe 30THB per visit) and she just wants money from you. There is also no sick buffalo.

Edited June 5, 2021 by jackdd

[doontp]

Sorry to hijack this thread.  

 

I am dual citizen Thai/US and am currently living in the US.

 

I found out 3 days ago that I have Stage 5 kidney disease and will soon start getting peritonial dialysis treatments in my home.  I have been placed on a waiting list for a new kidney, which is expected to be anywhere from 3-5 years.

 

My wife and I had already made plans to return to Thailand.  Obviously having peritonial dialysis in the home on Thailand is not an issue.

 

Question is, would I stand a better chance of getting a new kidney in Thailand or the US?

 

Has anyone here ever did their dialysis in Thailand and then traveled to the US or their home country when a kidney became available?

[Sheryl]

Wait time in the US is also 3-5 years and I think it may be difficult to get & stay on the list if out of the country.

[Hyna]

Isn't OP currently in the US?

 

Hard to get a kidney in Thailand. 

Believers in reincarnation hardly donate organs.

Thailand doesn't want an organ trade like India,  transplants for foreigners are discouraged. 

 

[Sheryl]

7 hours ago, Hyna said:

Isn't OP currently in the US?

 

Hard to get a kidney in Thailand. 

Believers in reincarnation hardly donate organs.

Thailand doesn't want an organ trade like India,  transplants for foreigners are discouraged. 

 

OP is in Thailand but it is nto OP who asked about transplants, that was someone else, who is a Thai citizen currently in US and planning to return to Thailand.

 

There is nothing in the idea of reincarnation that would preclude organ donation.

 

He was apparently told there would be a wait of 3-5 years for a kidney in Thailand which surprises me as the average wait time (if from a deceased donor) is 5 years. So 3-7 is more  like it.

[drenddy]

Need to revive this topic.

 

Currently, we send my wife's mother to private hospital, 3 times per week, costs around 45000 THB / month.

Wife is just too scared and does not have the heart to send her mom to a public hospital.

 

Anyways, based on this old article :

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30382719

 

Does anybody knows, how this scheme works?

 

Brother-in-law is working as low level policeman in RTP, I think, this qualifies as government employee?

Sister-in-law is teacher, don't know, whether private or public.

 

Should this be applicable in this situation, where I could find a list with the participating hospitals and how does one apply?

 

Thank you.

[jackdd]

On 9/5/2021 at 12:47 AM, drenddy said:

Should this be applicable in this situation, where I could find a list with the participating hospitals and how does one apply?

It's explained in the article that you posted.

[drenddy]

2 hours ago, jackdd said:

It's explained in the article that you posted.

Yes, it should be quite easy, but, unfortunately, wife is just way too scared to think of this alternative, even if could be money saving.

 

Wonder, is there anyone here, who can read thai and navigate on that app, to find coparticipating hospitals in Bangkok?

 

I have contacted the office named in the article as well.

 

Just need the hospitals, in order to establish contact.

[jackdd]

1 hour ago, drenddy said:

Yes, it should be quite easy, but, unfortunately, wife is just way too scared to think of this alternative, even if could be money saving.

Just tell her that you can no longer afford to pay for it and she has to pay it herself, I'm sure it won't take long for her to find the answer.

[Sheryl]

15 hours ago, drenddy said:

Yes, it should be quite easy, but, unfortunately, wife is just way too scared to think of this alternative, even if could be money saving.

 

Wonder, is there anyone here, who can read thai and navigate on that app, to find coparticipating hospitals in Bangkok?

 

I have contacted the office named in the article as well.

 

Just need the hospitals, in order to establish contact.

This scheme is only for people covered under the Civil Service SS scheme. Is your wife a civil servant?

[drenddy]

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

This scheme is only for people covered under the Civil Service SS scheme. Is your wife a civil servant?

 Her brother is working as a low level policeman and sister, as teacher, government school.That's why, I don't know, whether the scheme applies in this case.Wife told me, they should have know about this scheme and family have supposedly asked the hospital, they received a refusal, but me thinks, sometime things get lost in translation?Maybe they asked the wrong people?

 

Anyways, I got answer from Praram9 Hospital and several times during my correspondance with them, I referred to the article, clearly asked them, whether we are talking on the same insurance scheme and it seems we actually do.

 

They write about a government letter to be sent to them, where it states the coverage level, the patient has, so they can calculate how much need to be paid extra, in case the dialysis session is higher than the coverage.

 

I asked them, whether this letter should come from the son/daughter, as the claim is based on their employment. then they told me to ask brother call for further explanations

 

Still digging...

Edited September 6, 2021 by drenddy

[NancyL]

drenddy, has your wife investigated the situation for her mother if she received her dialysis from a public hospital?  I live in Chiang Mai and patients from the large CM University hospital receive their outpatient dialysis at a nice clinic located near a mall where there's easy parking.  It's the same clinic used by private patients, both foreign and Thai; very well regarded, run by the retired department head at CMU.  

 

The only difference in the treatment of the private and public patients is who pays the bill.  All sit in nice lazy-boy loungers, can select which room they want, each with a wide screen TV tuned to a different channel or a quiet room.  The staff is equally as nice and friendly to all.  Family members can go the nearby mall to pass the time while their loved ones receive their treatments.  Oh and it's open from 7 am to 11 pm (or at least it was before Covid), so it's very convenient.

[Sheryl]

If the mother is covered under the Civil Servant Medical benefit Scheme,  then should contact the Comptroller General's Department, Ministry of Finance

which is the entity that manages this system:

https://www.cgd.go.th/cs/internet/internet/หน้าหลัก2.html?page_locale=th_TH

Central phone number 0-2127-7000
Call Center 0-2270-6400

Fax :

02-127-7121

Email :

[email protected]
[email protected] (for receiving - sending official documents)