What is it with Thais and Hospitals?

[PremiumLane]

20 hours ago, Gaccha said:

Thais have remarkably little knowledge of the most basic medical conditions. They know nothing of the basic symptoms of mundane illnesses

Don't half read some garbage on this forum

Edited September 9, 2022 by PremiumLane

[metisdead]

A grammar police post has been removed. 

[Freddy42OZ]

19 hours ago, BonMot said:

My wife's coverage is full in hospital but not nearlt6as good outpatient. Twice in ten years she's just checked in overnight and rec'd additional tests and the stay. She was feeling really awful and had vertigo.

Yes, my insurance covers me fully and very well if I'm admitted, but I have to pay ALL outpatient costs. 

If I have even a mild issue I need to get admitted or pay a lot.   I've never needed to been admitted and have only been to hospitals when I've broken things or cut myself open (and couldn't glue said cut myself).

[bob smith]

22 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

30 baht scheme makes it cheap for them

where I come from its free. still doesnt make me want to go see a doctor for a bruised shin. bit of a daft comment from you again bryan

[Boyn]

18 hours ago, proton said:

At least they know getting wet in the rain means mai sabai, rainwater not same ap nahm ????

Never got my head round how rain makes Thais ill my wife assures me its a thing.

[Thingamabob]

7 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

Definition of a clinic please. Definition of a persons nominated hospital please. Definition of social security please.

A clinic attends to outpatients. A nominated hospital is one where a person is already registered. Social security takes care of those in need, funded through taxation.

[Thingamabob]

A and E departments in the UK have to deal with people, inter-alia, complaining of headaches and colds. Likewise ambulance services. Thais, on the other hand, tend to keep going because not to do so means that, in  many cases, they won't get paid if they are absent from their workplace.

[ThailandRyan]

25 minutes ago, bob smith said:

where I come from its free. still doesnt make me want to go see a doctor for a bruised shin. bit of a daft comment from you again bryan

How would you know it was just a bruise and not a fracture or shin splints for that matter...your ego is an issue as you decide what's good for you is also good for others and Thais. Try and understand the culture here and do not compare it to your culture.....debate over.

[ThailandRyan]

22 minutes ago, Boyn said:

Never got my head round how rain makes Thais ill my wife assures me its a thing.

Bacteria falling in the rain as it falls through the trees or off of a roof. It is a thing...

[bob smith]

13 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

How would you know it was just a bruise and not a fracture or shin splints for that matter...your ego is an issue as you decide what's good for you is also good for others and Thais. Try and understand the culture here and do not compare it to your culture.....debate over.

thats why I posted this in the first place bryan, to help me try and understand! for the life of me I cannot.. do you get it ???? when we dont know the answer to something us well educated folk ask questions! 

Edited September 9, 2022 by bob smith

[foreverlomsak]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

No other customers, straight into the dosctors' room, no equipment, in Thai he said 'yes I can give the farang a medical report' and he quoted a very cheap fee.

 

The Dr. said in Thai something like  '2 arms and 2 legs you pass. Three or 4 minutes laterall done/all paid and we walked out of his office.

The first medical certificate I got cost 30 B (circa 2007) and didn't need to see doctor, last clinic on the Q/A session (circa 2015) went as follows

Q1 - Any health problems - Answer - Nope

Q2 - Can you tell red from green - Answer - Reds the top light and greens at the bottom

Passed fit same 30 B better clinic and larger queues.

 

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, bob smith said:

thats why I posted this in the first place bryan, to help me try and understand! for the life of me I cannot.. do you get it ???? when we dont know the answer to something us well educated folk ask questions! 

I explained that with the 30 Baht scheme afforded to all Thai's this is why, but you gave me a flippant post which included "bit of a daft comment from you again bryan".  I remember the days before Thaksin created the 30 Baht scheme, the clinics in the villages were the only ones full in the evenings, after the scheme came into effect the local government hospitals were always full.  Just my view from living in the north outside of Wang Sam Mo in Issan back in the day before I lived in Phuket, Chiang Mai, and Udon Thani.  

[DJ54]

OP … Not only Thailand.. ..China and probably many other countries with Universal health plans that don’t bankrupt the patient making it less painful to visit the hospital and probably less expensive than 

a clinic. 

 

I’ve gone to hospital in China when I had a nasty cold flu first thing they want to do is put an IV in you… and I said just give me some medicine and I got over it.

 

if no insurance in US Dr. office fee can be $100-125 just to get in.. 

[bangon04]

On 9/8/2022 at 12:13 PM, Boomer6969 said:

Maybe, but IMHO it is more a profiteers' culture. When something is free they go for double dipping. But this happens not only in Thailand, in Europe way too many people go to the ER when a visit to the GP would have been more indicated. 

Some countries it is easier to go to the ER than to get a GP appointment.

[brianthainess]

On 9/9/2022 at 7:42 AM, Old Croc said:

The very cheap Thai health system is based around the hospitals.

In most western countries people would visit their local doctor's clinic for minor ailments. Here, that's incorporated into the hospitals.  The fear of Covid probably causes bigger crowds in waiting rooms these days.

From my observations the few clinics seem to be more about follow-up treatment such as changing bandages or checking blood sugar levels.

 

 

Spot on.  Even for a falang i only pay 30 baht for a wound clean and dressing, strangely a repeat prescription is cheaper than the hospital, around 1,500 baht a night in a hospital ward, including intravenous, drips, antibiotic jabs, dressings,           X-rays, more staff than you can point a stick at, food and the benefit of public hospital someone can stay with you 24/7.  eat the food while you eat something better your wife/family member has popped out to buy. : )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[2baht]

On 9/8/2022 at 5:14 PM, bob smith said:

can anyone shed some light on this matter?

Ask some Thai's!

[CANSIAM]

Yes 'Rain' does wreck havoc with the health of many locals, don't know how many times I've asked "how did you get sick?" Answer - 'rain'.  

[scorecard]

22 hours ago, yardrunner said:

perhaps the problem is that their is no system of GPs in Thailand. in the UK and i believe in the USA you visit the GP and if they think it necessary they will refer you to hospital. Here you go straight to the hospital to see a doctor or you go to a clinic and if you dont like what the doctor at the clinic says or the tablets dont work you just go to the hospital. Or the doctor at the clinic advises you to go to the hospital but there is no proper system of referrals from the clinics to the hospitals.

Referral does happen in the gov't hospital; first visit to a hospital, Dr says we don't have a specialist for your condition and writes a referral to a hospital which does have the required specialist.

 

In private hospitals same thing happens but most likely both doctors (non-specialist and specialist) are in the same hospital.  

[tomazbodner]

When I see your title about Thais running to hospitals for every little problem they should be handle by themselves, I wonder, what is it with expats and visa agents?

 

No matter how small the problem is, always calling up an agent. Should I open a separate thread for that?

[RamenRaven]

You're probably thinking of middle-class Thais with hypochondriac tendencies.

Working-class Thais: take a paracetamol pill, drink some herbal tea, and off you go.

 

Hypochondriacs are common in countries with free or low-cost healthcare.

Tough luck being a hypochondriac in the US though!

[fceligoj]

This thread is hilarious reading, all the reasons being given from a westerner's perspective.  The only Thais that go to a private hospital are those who work for the government (including teachers) or those well-to-do Thais.  The rest go to regional government hospitals, which are essentially free to Thais since the government pays for all but a few baht under the Universal Medical Plan.  Our neighbor (female) used to go to the hospital to take a rest, paid for by the government.  She WAS NOT medically sick!  I think this is what many mid-society Thais do, take a rest. 

 

For prescriptions, most Thais either go to the hospital or to clinics to get refills, like 90-day refills and as many prescriptions as they have FOR 30 BAHT!

 

I had open heart surgery at the Queen Sirikit NE Heart Center in 2021.  When you entered the heart center, for those 'poor' Thais coming in for essentially free care, there must have been 200-300 patients sitting and waiting to see a doctor in the standard clinic.  I went to its Premium Clinic for both initial and continuing visits, which cost me an additional 300 baht per visit over the poor's cost.  In the Premium Clinic there would be maybe 15-20 who were either under government insurance or like me paying cash.

 

Many of the public clinics are owned and operated by the responsible regional hospital.  And you do understood that most of the private clinics are own by doctors who during the day are working at one of the hospitals in their specialty and then have their own clinic after their work day at the hospital.

[rickudon]

Yes, so many Thais are hypochondriacs. I try to avoid letting the wife go to the pharmacy for me when i want one thing, because she will come back with 5 or 6 medicines. Got Covid 2 weeks ago, unwell enough i wouldn't go to Pharmacy myself - just asked for something for my sore throat - she came back with 6 or more different things, including antibiotics of course. Only things i used were a cough medicine and strepsils, rest i just threw into the fridge, half of the pills were loose and un-named.

My daughter then got Covid one day later as well, just a bit listless - but no, straight to hospital for 3 days! Bill was 30,000 baht, fortunately her insurance paid up.