Alarm bells ring in overloaded Thai public health system as exhausted doctors quit in droves

[billd766]

16 minutes ago, DavisH said:

So you were the dirty farang with no mask. You really should wear a mask in a hospital....there's sick people there you know LOL

I know thatb there are sick people in hospital. I am one of them.

 

I don't wear a mask either.

 

That is simply because I have a breathing problem. Wearing a mask makes it much much harder to breathe 

 

The last time I went 2 weeks ago I was the only farang nor wearing a mask but several Thai patients were not wearing masks either.

Edited June 23, 2023 by billd766
added extra text

[champers]

Bad publicity for the much vaunted World Medical Hub.

[bignok]

A drove is a flock of animals. Hundreds a year is 1 a day. Not a drove. Just normal change. People hate work so quit.

[Expat68]

5 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Health worker are some the most important entities in society however many are under paid and unappreciated.  Really can't blame them for quitting....

Similar to UK. For me Doctors/Nurses and anyone connected should be top of the list for pay/conditions along with Fire service and Police

[MrJ2U]

Pretty much the only jobs that pays well in Thailand:

 

Government

Police

Army Generals

[killala]

My Edocrinologist travels down from Bangkok once a month and I see him in Bangkok hospital Hua Hin and I pay only 1050baht for the consultation. Lord alone knows how much BKK hospital here takes out of that 1050 for admin and office space ( as most will know they don’t give anything away) so I wonder how much of the fee ends up in the consultants pocket, not much I’d say? 

[loong]

39 minutes ago, KhonKaenLive said:

The system treats doctors like sh*t and pays them sh*t.

Please enlighten us. How much do doctors earn in public hospitals?

I see so often people state that nurses and doctors are poorly paid, but I never see them tell how much they actually earn.

Are you just guessing how much they get paid?

[h90]

21 minutes ago, Expat68 said:

Similar to UK. For me Doctors/Nurses and anyone connected should be top of the list for pay/conditions along with Fire service and Police

I have problems with the police being the enforcer of the government....and during Covid they have shown that in many countries.

Not the police that prevent crime or help people.

 

[mommysboy]

That's a small number of doctors when compared to the UK (125,000 Statista) which has a slightly higher population, although there must be at least a similar number working in the private sector.

 

Well, people all over the world seem to be working longer, harder, and for less money, chafing under some productivity measure which has little to do with their actual performance and more to do with accountancy smoke and mirrors.

 

Honestly, I don't know where it's all going to end!

 

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by mommysboy

[Maestro]

Removed an off-topic post (RN) and the replies to them.

[Hugh Jarse]

6 hours ago, jerrymahoney said:

As in the OP they are leaving the public sector. They maybe just will not much longer tell an expat:

 

Don't do your operation at my private hospital -- come see me at the public hospital.

In English please!

[Toby1947]

Come to the UK. We desperately need trained doctors. Mega money but terrible weather ????????????

[connda]

Every year there are attacks on the efficient and efficacy of the Thai Health System, which in my humble opinion is one of the best public healthcare systems on the planet. 

What is really being said is that there are vested interests who want the entire system privatized.
Then it will go to Hell in a hand-basket.  Look at the NHS.

I've seen our local Amphur hospital care for 200 people in a day, and 125+ in the first 4 hours.

It ain't broken.  But there are people who want to break it and then suck the life out of it. 

[koolkarl]

2 hours ago, h90 said:

"foreigners will come to understand Thailand is not the best location for medical treatment." I think the same happens in many countries....A year ago I was sitting and waiting in a hospital and wondered why the nurses are all young and beautiful.

I asked myself where are the old and the ugly ones??? They wouldn't hire according to the looks? Or would they?

The old and ugly ones are in Canada.

[jerrymahoney]

50 minutes ago, Hugh Jarse said:

In English please!

Doctors whom you visit at a private hospital may soon say to expats more often:

If you're not willing to let me earn a reasonable amount of money for a procedure at my private hospital rather than have me do it at my public hospital where I will earn far less for the same procedure,

 

Go somewhere else.

[geisha]

I don’t find Thai hospitals that good myself for the price they charge foreigners. Unknowingly, I had a small kidney stone, thought I was dying !! Went to a hospital, waited, then put on a drip in a curtained off emergency room. The “doctor”:was in jeans and shirt . Whole families were surrounding the beds of other patients ! Shocked me. Waited till 3 am then sent home., Next day went to a different international hospital and eventually saw a real doctor who diagnosed my problem. Back in France with examinations it was confirmed. 

[Stevemercer]

I don't think this is a particular problem to Thailand. Every country seems to work its interns and residents to excess. It's like a starting lawyer in a big firm, the interns are expected to put in the hours with little pay. The senior doctors all went through the excessive hours in their intern years, they expect the new interns to do the same, and so it goes on. It's an expected part of the profession.

Edited June 23, 2023 by Stevemercer

[4MyEgo]

Utterly disgusting, that said, from my experience years ago when I first came here, I remember that I had to que with hundreds, yes hundreds of others in the morning to see a Dr at the public hospital for a simple blood test, it was then when I realised that their system was broken.

 

To add to that, when the Dr finally arrived and it was my turn in the que, he asked me why I wanted a blood test, even after telling him that I do one back home to check on my Cholesterol, Triglyceride, HDL and LDL levels to make sure that I don't have another heart attack, e.g. my local GP recommends I do one every 6 months to make sure everything is in check.

 

I since found a blood clinic an hour 15 drive away, drive there 1st thing in the morning, arrive when they open, 1st in and out, and the results are emailed to me by the time I get back.

 

Go figure, it is quicker than going to the public hospital to be seen by the Dr, who is no more than a kid in a white robe and the blood test (only one) that I did there, took a week to come back with the results.

 

The above said, I have canned all Dr's at public hospitals except a University training Public Hospital that Sheryl once referred me to, since then it has been Private hospitals, I don't care about the expense or the travel time, still get home before a public hospital Dr would be able to see me, that said, the wait time to see a Dr in a Public hospital from mine, my wife's and kids experiences is less than 10 minutes, half of that time is filling in some paperwork, getting weighed and blood pressures taken.

 

Can't blame the Dr's for walking out, I can imagine having seen 1st hand the volumes of people they have to see in a given day, no doubt for little pay and long hours.

[KhonKaenLive]

2 hours ago, loong said:

Please enlighten us. How much do doctors earn in public hospitals?

I see so often people state that nurses and doctors are poorly paid, but I never see them tell how much they actually earn.

Are you just guessing how much they get paid?

In a provincial hospital, a GP will make anywhere from 50-70 thousand baht per month. If they are young doctors, older nurses and admin treat them like children in best cases. 

Edited June 23, 2023 by KhonKaenLive

[PETERTHEEATER]

4 hours ago, Des1 said:

My girlfriend works at a big international hospital in Bangkok .. it's a <deleted> show how bad staff are treated.. and paid. I have a friend back in my home country who is a nurses union rep...when I tell he what is happening hear she freaks out. Thailand needs unions. Will never happen.

In the linked article, the complainant mentions 'her union. receiviing complaints from medical staff (Union members?) working 120  hour weeks. 

[RanongCat]

1 hour ago, connda said:

Every year there are attacks on the efficient and efficacy of the Thai Health System, which in my humble opinion is one of the best public healthcare systems on the planet. 

What is really being said is that there are vested interests who want the entire system privatized.
Then it will go to Hell in a hand-basket.  Look at the NHS.

I've seen our local Amphur hospital care for 200 people in a day, and 125+ in the first 4 hours.

It ain't broken.  But there are people who want to break it and then suck the life out of it. 

I have been a patient waiting in long  que of local small hospital. very  good young woman doctor gave good consult , pee and blood test and precription for medicines. At cashier all was 450 bht and doctor fee was 50 bht from that.

I have also bee a patient in a Private Hospital and the que was near same. At cashier was 4300bht

[Moonlover]

4 hours ago, DavisH said:

3 hours ago, Rockhound said:

I visited the hospital in Sakeow last week.  There were thousands of people all waiting to see a Doctor.  Every one of them masked.   Probably all still worried about Covidbollocks.

 

4 hours ago, DavisH said:

So you were the dirty farang with no mask. You really should wear a mask in a hospital....there's sick people there you know LOL

If you're going to catch any communicable disease, a hospital is the most likely place to do so. Which is why I avoid them like the plague. (yes pun intended)

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Moonlover

[steevjee]

4 hours ago, Rockhound said:

I visited the hospital in Sakeow last week.  There were thousands of people all waiting to see a Doctor.  Every one of them masked.   Probably all still worried about Covidbollocks.

Didn't see you at our last Flat Earth Society gathering? but I saved you an aluminum 5G hat , size XXS as you requested.

[bignok]

20 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

 

If you're going to catch any communicable disease, a hospital is the most likely place to do so. Which is why I avoid them like the plague. (yes pun intended)

 

Working with sick people too would be depressing.

[zzaa09]

1 hour ago, Stevemercer said:

I don't think this is a particular problem to Thailand. Every country seems to work its interns and residents to excess. It's like a starting lawyer in a big firm, the interns are expected to put in the hours with little pay. The senior doctors all went through the excessive hours in their intern years, they expect the new interns to do the same, and so it goes on. It's an expected part of the profession.

In defence, there's an alarming percentage of countries the world over who find themselves with consistent shortages of medical professionals and technicians - this is not a recent phenomena [Covid era and other factors], as this is the way it's been within these fields since memory......coupled with contemporary populations that seek medical/health aid when it's truly not necessary. 

[brommers]

There is a supreme ironly in the fact the the very governments who enact employment laws are the most exploitative employers of all. It is true all over the world and is an indicator the hypocrisy of those we elect.

[sambum]

Not good news for Thais or ex pats.

 

To attract more doctors the obvious answer is to make the job more attractive financially, and that would partly be funded by charging farangs even more for medical services. A friend of mine has just been told by a doctor at the local Government Hospital that if he requires a certain treatment  he can expect to pay double that which a Thai pays. And that is at a Government Hospital - Private Hospitals will probably charge substantially more.

 

[snoop1130]

Officials promise to address staff shortages at Thai government hospitals

 

 

There’s been a lot of discussion in Thai social media about the country’s shortage of doctors and medical staff, in reaction to various political promises before the election.

 

Now, Thailand’s health ministry has set out an agreement with the Civil Service Commission, aimed at addressing a shortage of doctors and nurses in state-run hospitals. Under the agreement, more positions will be opened up, and measures will be put in place to reduce the number of medical personnel leaving to join private hospitals.

 

Thailand has a public health system guaranteeing every Thai person, even legally working expats, with free (or almost free) public health care.

 

By Peter Roche

Caption: PHOTO: Flickr/ILO Asia-Pacific

 

Full Story: https://phuket-go.com/phuket-news/national-news/officials-promise-to-address-staff-shortages-at-thai-government-hospitals/

 

-- © Copyright Phuket GO 2023-06-23

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

[neeray]

10 hours ago, jerrymahoney said:

As in the OP they are leaving the public sector. They maybe just will not much longer tell an expat:

 

Don't do your operation at my private hospital -- come see me at the public hospital.

What does this mean?

[anrcaccount]

Few things here.

 

1 - Thailand lacks a primary care system, so any minor ailment often ends up in a hospital rather than a GP. This is an ineffective/ inefficient healthcare provisioning system. 

 

2- The overwhelming focus on covid infection prevention, negatively impacts care. "All covid, no care". It's time now for Thailand to treat covid like any other respiratory condition which many countries now already do, this will help the overall health system improve.

 

3- Pay the staff more.