Cervical Cancer Treatment/Thailand

[dddave]

A young woman (32) living in the Philippines who I care for very much was just diagnosed (biopsy) with cervical cancer. She lives in a small city on Mindanao and health care services are poor at best and very expensive.  Her doctor want's her to go to the city of Cebu for treatment, including chemo.  

Though Cebu does have higher quality hospitals, they are very expensive as well, from what I can see, more so than Thailand.  Add in frequent air travel expenses (P6000+ return) and hotel accommodations and the costs get prohibitive.

 

I know this is very broad, but what would one expect an initial cervical cancer treatment, including chemo and labs would cost in Thailand?  Perhaps somewhere like Bangkok Christian Hosp.?  As a Filipina, would she be able to be admitted and treated at a government hospital?  I'm aware language would be a big issue and interpreter necessary.  

How do medical visa's work?  Must they be arranged by the hospital involved?  What kind of documentation must be provided?

 

Any information appreciated.

Edited December 8, 2021 by dddave

[Sheryl]

1. Medical visas are extremely complicated to get and usually not  worth it compared to tourist visa.  While there is talk of creating a new medical visa that allows loner stays (but with extensive income requirement etc), currently one gets only 60 days which is the same as a tourist visa. It would be difficult to  impossible to get a medical visa for treatment at most government hospitals given the  needed paperwork from the hospital.

 

2. Any one, of any nationality, can be treated at a Thai government hospital but of course must pay full fee. It takes significant time and multiple visits, and often long waits (both at the facility and wait lists for treatment) to use the government system, making it often not very practical for people living abroad.

 

3. Costs of treatment of cervical cancer depend entirely on what treatment is involved and that in turn depends on the stage of the cancer. Chemo is certainly not an initial treatment and it seems very odd that it has been advised based solely on biopsy. Are you sure that is all, or did she also have scans? A cystoscopy? etc?

 

Please get more detailed information of all the tests and procedures that have been carried out, the diagnosed stage of the cancer and the proposed treatment, and post here.

 

 

[Sheryl]

P.S. you should also verify what sort of copays she is likely to have under the Philippine Universal Health Care system for purposes of comparison. If she truly needs chemo then she will probably also need a hysterectomy (partial or total or even radical). I would be very, very surprised if the costs of doing this in the Philippines exceeds what it would cost to do in Thaoland, even at a government hospital.

[lopburi3]

On 12/8/2021 at 1:00 PM, dddave said:

Add in frequent air travel expenses (P6000+ return) and hotel accommodations and the costs get prohibitive.

I see a cost less than P3,000 RT Davao/Cebu (that may not be her route but domestic flights are quite reasonable) and hotels will not be much more expensive in Cebu than Bangkok.  Just leaving PI for a single woman can be an issue due to the officials need to protect Filipinas from bad people (many are stopped and not allowed to exit).  International travel today is not a pleasant experience, much less with cancer.  There are a number of hospitals in Cebu and several are considered of international standards and believe price would be competitive with Thailand.