Thai Doctors

[eek]

A Urologist in a Hospital in Sri Racha told me I had Prostate Cancer and that I needed to have my Balls cut off (25000bht) A monthly injection (30000bht) and a daily pill costing 250 each for life!.

A second Urologist in Sirijit Hospital Sattahip said I didn't have Cancer just an inflamation of the Prostate.

He fixed it with a course of antibiotics.....Cost 12000bht inc Biopsy.

How about that?

UNBELIEVABLE!

[ThaiGoon]

A Urologist in a Hospital in Sri Racha told me I had Prostate Cancer and that I needed to have my Balls cut off (25000bht) A monthly injection (30000bht) and a daily pill costing 250 each for life!.

A second Urologist in Sirijit Hospital Sattahip said I didn't have Cancer just an inflamation of the Prostate.

He fixed it with a course of antibiotics.....Cost 12000bht inc Biopsy.

How about that?

I would NEVER go for any heavy treatment or surgery on a first advise after being diagnosed with any serious disease. It is a basic common sense to go for at least a second advice.....And thisstands for any country........

So true.

[Neeranam]

Bottom line is that if you want to have a good advice from a competent doctor, go to a good hospital............

yes i agree, but where can you find a 'good hospital' in LOS......

Try Bumrungrad (not sure if you can afford it though.)

expensive does not always mean good

It's one of the worst. One of my daughters was born there and it was a total rip-off.

My daughter's 'Godmother' came with us to speak with the doctor. He was more interested in his free weekend at her Hua Hin hotel than my wife's condition. To get a good service you must pay over the top prices AND bribe them.

The doctors there only care about money, power and prestige.

The doctors in the little villages, they're different and actually care.

[donna]

i have a friend here who is a doctor. he works with aids patients mainly. anyway, nobody here believes he is a doctor because he "has tattoos, a bad haircut and doesnt wear the white coat with little glasses".

he has no trust of thai doctors at all. having said that, his own wife will not listen to him when she is ill. she will run off to the thai doctor and return with a bunch of paracetamol and antibiotics for something that could have been treated without all that rubbish.

i have little trust for some doctors here. i went in a few months ago bleeding. the doctor had no qualms in telling me that i probably have cancer and i shoudl be operated on immediately. i didnt.

i recently went to australia and saw my old gp there. he does not trust the docs over here and had me do the same tests i have done here. well they found a big cyst 4.8cm in me. nobody here found it! its a bit hard to miss i assume at that size!

the best thing about the medical system here is the speed at which you can get things done. in australia one place wanted meto wait for a week for an ultrasound. to get in to see a gyno would take about 2 months at least (with referral). to get an operation such as i need now would take about mths at least if it is not emergency surgery.

here, i can do all of this in a day easily.

i guess you have to weigh up convenience Vs knowledge.

[meadish_sweetball]

I am tired of being prescribed broad spectrum antibiotics for every single thing, not even once have doctors taken stools when I have come in with a stomach problem (which I would never do unless it has persisted for over 4 days).

I realize they have a high turnover of patients and that they make good money from pushing antibiotics, but it would be nice to at least once have somebody take a test.

The overuse of antibiotics is a worldwide problem, and the broad spectrum varieties are precious resources. If taking a test, it can easily be established what specific organism causes the problem, and then prescribe a cure for that particular organism, instead of something that resets the whole bacterial culture to zero.

I should mention I have mainly been using the most expensive private hospital in Chiang Mai.

[thaihome]

Keep in mind that in every medical school all over the world there is the worst student that will pass and become a practicing doctor.

TH

[ThaiGoon]

i have a friend here who is a doctor. he works with aids patients mainly. anyway, nobody here believes he is a doctor because he "has tattoos, a bad haircut and doesnt wear the white coat with little glasses".

he has no trust of thai doctors at all. having said that, his own wife will not listen to him when she is ill. she will run off to the thai doctor and return with a bunch of paracetamol and antibiotics for something that could have been treated without all that rubbish.

i have little trust for some doctors here. i went in a few months ago bleeding. the doctor had no qualms in telling me that i probably have cancer and i shoudl be operated on immediately. i didnt.

i recently went to australia and saw my old gp there. he does not trust the docs over here and had me do the same tests i have done here. well they found a big cyst 4.8cm in me. nobody here found it! its a bit hard to miss i assume at that size!

the best thing about the medical system here is the speed at which you can get things done. in australia one place wanted meto wait for a week for an ultrasound. to get in to see a gyno would take about 2 months at least (with referral). to get an operation such as i need now would take about mths at least if it is not emergency surgery.

here, i can do all of this in a day easily.

i guess you have to weigh up convenience Vs knowledge.

I do find that there's something missing or left untold in your story. You went in to see a Thai doctor bleeding. He told you, you had cancer!! What?! Then you found out that you had a "cyst" in your body by an Australian doctor. Hmmm...

[ThaiGoon]

Anyway, funny should a lot of people in this thread mention antibiotics and Thai doctors. My g/f is a doctor and whenever I have an alergy or a cold, she keeps insisting me on taking antibiotics (lots of it actually.) Hmm.

Edited May 27, 2007 by ThaiGoon

[Luckydog]

A Urologist in a Hospital in Sri Racha told me I had Prostate Cancer and that I needed to have my Balls cut off (25000bht) A monthly injection (30000bht) and a daily pill costing 250 each for life!.

A second Urologist in Sirijit Hospital Sattahip said I didn't have Cancer just an inflamation of the Prostate.

He fixed it with a course of antibiotics.....Cost 12000bht inc Biopsy.

How about that?

Perhaps the urologist in Sri Racha is a regular on this forum and he read your thread about "thieving is Thailand's national part time"? I know I would have given the same diagnosis if I were him.

Hohohohohoho Thaigoon made a funny. ............

[ThaiGoon]

A Urologist in a Hospital in Sri Racha told me I had Prostate Cancer and that I needed to have my Balls cut off (25000bht) A monthly injection (30000bht) and a daily pill costing 250 each for life!.

A second Urologist in Sirijit Hospital Sattahip said I didn't have Cancer just an inflamation of the Prostate.

He fixed it with a course of antibiotics.....Cost 12000bht inc Biopsy.

How about that?

Perhaps the urologist in Sri Racha is a regular on this forum and he read your thread about "thieving is Thailand's national part time"? I know I would have given the same diagnosis if I were him.

Hohohohohoho Thaigoon made a funny. ............

I was half serious.

Heee.

[Maizefarmer]

Bottom line is that if you want to have a good advice from a competent doctor, go to a good hospital............

yes i agree, but where can you find a 'good hospital' in LOS......

All government hospitals in Thailand are good hospitals. The service they offer is excellent, and at a fraction of the price it will cost you to get the same treatment at any of the private hospitals - which are horrendously overpriced by Thai income/cost standards.

Okay - the small provincial town hospitals have limited facilities, but ALL the main city provincial government hospitals offer everything that the expensive Bkk private hospitals offer.

[bina]

medicine and culture are things that are very very personal;

everytime one of my kids gets a cold, anon wants them to go to the doctor to get antibiotics. i have a hard time convincing him that common colds do not need 'pills' (paracetamol etc not counted)... it is better to wait a few days to see what happens. he gets very angry when we are sent home w/o a little packet of coloured pills. i then hear: 'in thailand a doctor would have given them pills already' . my answer is that in thailand, a dentist would have pulled his teeth a long time ago instead of treating his gum disease, and he would be toothless by now and i dont want to kiss a toothless young man. that shuts him up fast!

but anon's lack of knowlege means that his expectations are different than mine when dealing with docs. he doesnt question the doc. he doesnt expect explanations. anon expects the doc to give him SOMETHING, no matter what. after all, the doctor studied and he, anon, didnt so the doc must know best. i say that the internet 'knows best' often, and a doctor only studied a few more years then me, and craps in a toilet just like all of us and is human and can make mistakes (it has helped that three girlfriends of mine are family doctors so he sees the 'other side' of doctors and is loosing his awe of them)

i've learned to 'suggest' things to doctors w/o mentioning the hated word 'internet': i will mumble and say that a friend read about something and maybe he/she (the doc) has also and etc...israeli docs are know for being arrogant mini gods. there are courses for medical students now for teaching bedside manners/customer service ala american style. rather difficult when the doc only has five minutes to see your chart on the computer (a new thing)and check u out. and we are a hypochondriac nation also.

as for common sense to see an other doctor; well, here, although it is the law, many docs have conniptions if u want to go to get a second opinion, almost like commtting adultery, as if it was a personal thing and not just u wanting to know more. so this seems to be a doctor trait and not a thai doctor trait. havent been to a usa doc for 20 years so dont know the situation there anymore...

[Dakhar]

Anyway, funny should a lot of people in this thread mention antibiotics and Thai doctors. My g/f is a doctor and whenever I have an alergy or a cold, she keeps insisting me on taking antibiotics (lots of it actually.) Hmm.

Sadly, I don't think it is a Thai thing.

[meadish_sweetball]

Anyway, funny should a lot of people in this thread mention antibiotics and Thai doctors. My g/f is a doctor and whenever I have an alergy or a cold, she keeps insisting me on taking antibiotics (lots of it actually.) Hmm.

Your body should be strong enough to fight off a cold by itself without any antibiotics.

My wife is the same, she gets all nervous as soon as I start to sneeze, and suggests several times we should go see a doctor and get medicine.

But normal colds usually go away with a few days' rest and healthy eating - lots of vitamin C, ginger, garlic, hot chicken soup, and plenty of water. If the fever gets too bad, I take a few acetylsalicylic acid tablets (I like the ones you dissolve in water that contain a small amount of caffeine as well) or paracetamol (if you are prone to peptic ulcer you should be careful with taking acetylsalicylic acid).

Other than that, usually nothing required for a cold.

Note that taking vitamin C does not prevent colds, contrary to popular belief. It does however help once you already have a cold.

[Dakhar]

The wife recently got a puncture wound on the foot. We brought her down to a shanty 24 hr clinic hosptal place. I met a doc there some time before. I was impressed with his sincerity, and his willingness to struggle though an English conversation with me. No his English was not the best, but at least he was willing to try and we were able to communicate.

Any how, they treated my wife promplty and correctly. They also insisted on an ex ray which was over kill for her situation.... but hey the total bill was 300 baht, so go ahead with the ex ray. No biggie.

Even on the scale of things. If 300 baht is a days labor to the average Thai..... a hospital visit in the US such as the one that my wife had would have caused way more than a days worth of labor to the average US citizen. More like 5 days or so.

[bina]

a lot of the prescibing could also be that people do not come back for a review if they arent feeling well after three or so days; people work, they lose days if they go to a doctor, its time consuming, and when they get there, they want to feel they are getting something for their money/time/loss of money.

its easier to prescribe something for five days just in case than tell a patient to check and keep a record of fever/how much liquid u drank/vomited whatever then come back in three days for a check up ....

if the thai population in general is not knowlegeable and/or doesnt read enough to be self taught like many americans or other westerners, then doctors will continue to do things that are easier to comply with: it is easier to tell someone to take pills every five hours then to keep records of health changes and come back if things get worse.

also, could it be that thai themselves do not tell docs symptoms. americans are vocal and will describe in detail a feeling in their lower intestine that feels like x and when they pee it looks like y and when they sit it feels like z, etc... i expect that a thai person walks in, sits, says he doesnt feel good, and the doc cannot second guess every symptom so will ask general guiding questions (fever? cough? hurt?)...

one of the things that progressive health industries here are attempting do is to educate people (especially elderly or non native language speakers like we have a lot of, or non educated/or lower socio economic groups) to 'offer' information: i feel like this, i take pills called x,y, z , i eat : whatever.... so that the doc can get a better picture. most people in these groups are rather passive when it comes to diagnoses/medication. i dont know if there are programs like that in thailand yet??

here in every mother /child clinic or general practioners' office now u will find pamphlets about common health problems and their treatments: lots of pictures and icons, not a lot of words, and in several languages (we have several 'unofficial' and three 'official' languages here for instance). dont know how public education is in thailand at least for the rural less literate communities.

environmental causes and medicine education for the masses is obviously sorely lacking in thailand as far as i saw (in rural poor areas)

bina

[donna]

i have a friend here who is a doctor. he works with aids patients mainly. anyway, nobody here believes he is a doctor because he "has tattoos, a bad haircut and doesnt wear the white coat with little glasses".

he has no trust of thai doctors at all. having said that, his own wife will not listen to him when she is ill. she will run off to the thai doctor and return with a bunch of paracetamol and antibiotics for something that could have been treated without all that rubbish.

i have little trust for some doctors here. i went in a few months ago bleeding. the doctor had no qualms in telling me that i probably have cancer and i shoudl be operated on immediately. i didnt.

i recently went to australia and saw my old gp there. he does not trust the docs over here and had me do the same tests i have done here. well they found a big cyst 4.8cm in me. nobody here found it! its a bit hard to miss i assume at that size!

the best thing about the medical system here is the speed at which you can get things done. in australia one place wanted meto wait for a week for an ultrasound. to get in to see a gyno would take about 2 months at least (with referral). to get an operation such as i need now would take about mths at least if it is not emergency surgery.

here, i can do all of this in a day easily.

i guess you have to weigh up convenience Vs knowledge.

I do find that there's something missing or left untold in your story. You went in to see a Thai doctor bleeding. He told you, you had cancer!! What?! Then you found out that you had a "cyst" in your body by an Australian doctor. Hmmm...

the story (in a nutshell) was: i was experiencing heavy bleeding like a period. this is after i had been told that i was menopausal and that it was more than likely that i would not really menstruate any more. so i went to the doc. she told me that i could possibly have cancer. i then sought a second opinion here in phuket. was told that its not likely to be cancer. could be more hormonal (after checking my hormones and thyroid levels - which were normal). so i recently went to australia on holidays and my GP there did more tests including ultrasounds (i had had many ultrasounds here beforehand too). they found a big 4.8cm cyst which now needs to be looked at via a minor surgical procedure.

i dont know why they didnt pick up the cyst earlier really. i doubt a growth that size just appeared in two weeks (the time between seeing the doc here and seeing my doc in australia).

[bander]

A Urologist in a Hospital in Sri Racha told me I had Prostate Cancer and that I needed to have my Balls cut off (25000bht) A monthly injection (30000bht) and a daily pill costing 250 each for life!.

A second Urologist in Sirijit Hospital Sattahip said I didn't have Cancer just an inflamation of the Prostate.

He fixed it with a course of antibiotics.....Cost 12000bht inc Biopsy.

How about that?

I would NEVER go for any heavy treatment or surgery on a first advise after being diagnosed with any serious disease. It is a basic common sense to go for at least a second advice.....And thisstands for any country........

It's well known that thai doctor's want to make money for the hospital even if they have to give a wrong diagnose. If you prove they'r wrong they'll deny it of course.

And the medicine sale is also a part of they'r buissiness.

How many different colours do you get after a visit to your local hospital with a small skratch?

Blue, red, yellow, pink, purple, black, white (did I forget any?)

Cheers

[khunmarc]

[i have a great respect for thai doctors. spent some time in a hospital out in the sticks, and got really good medical care at a ridiculously low price. BUT!

But Ill never forget having dinner in a Mae Sot restaurant and look across the street at the medical clinic.... with 2 people with their dogs waiting in line ( I guess he also did Vet work!!!! according to his sign !!!) on another note I got good care in our local hospital when I got bit by a dog in the lower calf and sure was cheap!!!!

But do not try to question the Thai Gods of medecine or you will get a wall for an answer I got totally ignore by the big guy in the CM hospital when i ask about my mother inlaw's medicine that maybe be conflicting..... until I told the doc I heard if they cant speak english they NOT good doctors LOL

then I got the ICY treament but still not much for answers

guess the ask your doctor about it didnt make it to thailand yet and forget about getting the "get a second opinion" that would amount to "loose face" in the old Thai ways

[frikkiedeboer]

Do not give your child the antibiotic until you cross check with a certified Pharmacist. You better be dam n sure the strength and dosing regimine is correct. Pharmacists know more than Doctors when it comes to drugs.

my father was a pharmacist, and, at the risk of having every doctor and his dog come down on me, i will agree with you on that one! i always check the package insert and follow recommended dosage , no matter what the doctor prescribed. i never had a problem with this in thailand,though, and must say that the medical care i received at the isaan government hospital was excellent. just got concerned with one doctor, who ,in spite of his education, just couldn't shake local traditions and myths and i thought it very unprofessional for him to promote these. culture ,tradition,superstition and religion should never influence science, especially when it comes to a person you have to trust with your life!

[frikkiedeboer]

I would say the doctor was a little harsh but it is true that when you are ill ice cream, candy, soda or junk food in general are not good you need healthy food to fuel your body to fight the illness I think any doctor in any country would agree with that. I'm not sure what antibiotic needs to be mixed with boiling water that one is new to me, powdered antibiotics are mixed with distilled water perhaps the doctor wanted to make sure the water you used was free of bacteria.

dear, doctor, i think you missed the point. i agree with you about the junk food etc thing, but this fellow was talking about the thai belief that anything that is consumed cold is bad for a person running a fever. in isaan hospitals, they tell the patient to mix the antibiotic with BOILING water. i know that they are trying to get the patient to use sterile water, and BOILED water is the closest most isaan families would get to distilled water, but BOILING water is what is recommended, and when i pointed out that the advice was possibly incorrect, all i got was a blank stare.............. and i do speak thai well enough not to have been confused by what he was saying.

[frikkiedeboer]

Bottom line is that if you want to have a good advice from a competent doctor, go to a good hospital............

yes i agree, but where can you find a 'good hospital' in LOS......

All government hospitals in Thailand are good hospitals. The service they offer is excellent, and at a fraction of the price it will cost you to get the same treatment at any of the private hospitals - which are horrendously overpriced by Thai income/cost standards.

Okay - the small provincial town hospitals have limited facilities, but ALL the main city provincial government hospitals offer everything that the expensive Bkk private hospitals offer.

i agree wholeheartedly with you on this one, and you would be surprised at how well equipped some of the smallest village hospitals are. at least there they work for a fixed income, and there is no motivation to try to scare you into having an operation you don't really need.... and if they come across anything they think they cannot handle themselves they will refer you to (and transport you to) an hospital nearby that can.

it seems that some modern doctors often have their vision clouded by the money they can make in a private hospital, and forget the oath they took.............

frikkie

[frikkiedeboer]

BTW when u have a fever and eat very cold /frozen food, u make your body work harder to heat the food up when going inside the body so body works, fever may go up a bit... thats the reasoning behind it all....

patient compliance is what its all about: and what one country feels is healthy another country/culture may be shocked by it all...

a doctor studiies an exact science-all he/she learns is based on the scientific evidence available at the time. medicine evolves all the time, and as new discoveries are made, this information is updated and doctors are kept infomred. information is shared by universities worldwide, and a doctor who studied in thailand should be just as competent as one who studied in usa, or borneo, for that matter. local superstition should not be allowed to cloud his vision. and the belief that cold foods will force your body to work harder to process them, thus raising body temp. is just as assenine as the old belief that you should not swim directly after a meal, since "all the blood rushes to your stomach to digest the meal, and you could have a cramp and drown"-this was my (non thai) doctor's advice when i was a child.

frikkie

Edited May 27, 2007 by frikkiedeboer

[katana]

The prescribing of antibiotics for a cold seems strange since they're caused by viruses, which aren't killed by antibiotics.

I've found a lot of medical doctors can be arrogant, or have a so called god complex, whatever country they're from, but did tend to notice this was more prevalent in Thailand. In the West a doctor will tend to introduce himself, so at least you know his name. Often in Thailand I found this didn't happen.

Also found that in Thailand, when you had a bad stomach upset, they would just prescribe Cipro straight away. In a way, this is nice since you get immediate relief, but in the West they would have done a stool test first do determine the pathogen.

[click2delete]

I don't care where you are, you must manage your doctors or they will manage you. You must speak to a pharmacist about any drug - demand a consult. When the nurse comes in the room with an IV or medicine, ask what it is, what it is for and why you are receiving it and for *$*$* sake, check the dosage.

They won't like that here in Thailand but Fcuckck them. I have already told a few doctors how to be doctors here - and I usually start by telling them that I am a surgeon so they are on their guard to begin with. My background has given me intimate knowledge of medicine so I can hold my own with any doctor.

If you are not able to speak for yourself, find someone with balls who can and give them power of attorney for your hospital stay.

YOU MUST MANAGE THEM - Even in the US they will kill you if you let them.

Edited May 28, 2007 by Maestro
Font formatting codes used for entire post removed for better readability.

[Ijustwannateach]

Part of the reason for overprescription here, unfortunately, is related to the kickback system of medical sales, as well as the common predilection for squeezing every last sou out of an insurance policy (if available). With incentives for reducing medication (like perhaps having a set ceiling for doctor's fee plus medication for various standard diagnoses?) perhaps we'd see a reduction of these problems.

Many of the things I have seen written here about Thai doctors are true; however, I'd take them every time over Japanese doctors, who have 10 times the ego and someone much less skill in many ways. How many times did I go to Japanese doctors over and over again, without having a problem solved, only to get it fixed when I visited Thailand or America!!! One of my closest friends nearly died there due to Japanese medical incompetence- there's really no milder description I can give it- and I knew one of the victims of the evil Ministry of Health's purchase and distribution of tainted blood products in the 80s/90s. He and his wife both dying of Hep.C because of a tainted blood transfusion during an outdated operation which didn't work, to fix a condition that only needed pills, once he returned to Britain. I had students with all kinds of problems because the "best" doctor in their prefecture had made some major screwup. And don't even get me started on Japanese dentists.

As a result of this, most of my foreign friends from Japan now get their medical care in Thailand- happily and regularly- every time they have a vacation here. It may not always seem to be the same as "first world" medicine, but then neither are some "first world" countries. I have a great deal of trust and respect for my GP here, and have had very positive experiences most of the time (with exceptions) in various hospitals. My biggest gripe would be the recent unjustified, enormous jumps in prices at the ritziest private places in Bangkok- but still cheaper than it would be if I were in the states.

"Steven"