Giving Birth Chiang Mai

[mekka]

Hey guys,

We have just found out my Fiancee is pregnant and are currently in AUS on holiday visiting my family, we fly back to Thailand in 10 days, we plan to relocate from Phuket to Chiang Mai within the next few months (she is not due until March 08) and i am just wondering if anyone has any tips on finding a good Dr for my mother to be for regular checkups and ultraounds...maybe someone here has had a good personal experience that they could share?...any personal experiences? Her family lives in NongKhai but i think i would rather be closer to a decent hospital if things where to get tricky during the birth..what are the hospitals like in Chiang mai? And as i am totally new to this and so is she..what would the average cost for the birth be at a decent hospital...we dont need some swanky private hospital..just somewhere with good care etc...

So i guess any information on hospitals, Dr's, prices etc would be greatly appreciated...

[j0j0]

if you go the Ladies Forum there was a recent thread about this, it is still on the first or second page. Good luck with the bub, congratulations!

[Tywais]

if you go the Ladies Forum there was a recent thread about this, it is still on the first or second page. Good luck with the bub, congratulations!

I believe it is this one > http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=129721

[JuniorExPat]

See you at the bar.

JxP

[mild7even]

Congrats on the baby! My son was born here in Chiang Mai almost five years ago and luckily everything went without a hitch.

I wasn't here for most of the pregnancy and birth (I was serving in the army at the time), but I'm pretty sure I was here for the conception, which is the important thing.

My wife went to the Chiang Mai Women and Children Hospital, in Thai called Rongphayaban Mae La Dek. I suppose it is some sort of government hospital. The entire cost of prenatal care and the delivery was around 4,000 (yes, four thousand) baht. The hospital also took care of all immunizations and physicals until he was 18 months and we moved to Korea--can't remember the cost but it was a pittance. We'll be taking him there in a couple weeks for some dental work.

I have to stress that there were absolutely no complications with the birth. I'm not sure how the doctors would have performed if anything had been non-standard, though my wife assures me the docs were more than competent.

It is located south of the Night Bazaar area--go south on Chang Klan road, and then after the intersection at Panthip Plaza, merge to the right. It is around a klick or so down the road on the left hand side.

The farang royalty I'm sure will recommend Chiang Mai Ram or Suan Dawk. Not sure of the cost at those places, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

There are plenty factors at work here, but I must say that my son is healthy, intelligent, completely bilingual, and otherwise normal. I can recommend this hospital.

[JuniorExPat]

Congrats on the baby! My son was born here in Chiang Mai almost five years ago and luckily everything went without a hitch.

I wasn't here for most of the pregnancy and birth (I was serving in the army at the time), but I'm pretty sure I was here for the conception, which is the important thing.

My wife went to the Chiang Mai Women and Children Hospital, in Thai called Rongphayaban Mae La Dek. I suppose it is some sort of government hospital. The entire cost of prenatal care and the delivery was around 4,000 (yes, four thousand) baht. The hospital also took care of all immunizations and physicals until he was 18 months and we moved to Korea--can't remember the cost but it was a pittance. We'll be taking him there in a couple weeks for some dental work.

I have to stress that there were absolutely no complications with the birth. I'm not sure how the doctors would have performed if anything had been non-standard, though my wife assures me the docs were more than competent.

It is located south of the Night Bazaar area--go south on Chang Klan road, and then after the intersection at Panthip Plaza, merge to the right. It is around a klick or so down the road on the left hand side.

The farang royalty I'm sure will recommend Chiang Mai Ram or Suan Dawk. Not sure of the cost at those places, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

There are plenty factors at work here, but I must say that my son is healthy, intelligent, completely bilingual, and otherwise normal. I can recommend this hospital.

Show us your vasectomy scar.

JxP

[Rasso]

hangover tomorrow, junior? don't stop the medication. :-)

[richard10365]

I think if you have the baby where your fiancee is from, it will be free. Unless you want a private room.

It is a myth that health care outside of a big city in Thailand is poor. If you believe that, then you deserve to get ripped off by the big hospitals such as Chiang Mai Ram.

Edited July 15, 2007 by richard10365

[swain]

I also wondered about this... myth you say.. ok.. well its being perpetuated in the media with all these horrific stories of medical malpractice in government run hospitals. I mean if it is a myth, and you might want to take the next step in a conspiracy theory, you could blame the government. If the perception is that the 30 baht medical coverage is dangerous, low quality, and last resort, you would lower your over all expense because only people with no other means would being willing to go and take advantage of this service. I am sure its not the case.. but you never know...

I think if you have the baby where your fiancee is from, it will be free. Unless you want a private room.

It is a myth that health care outside of a big city in Thailand is poor. If you believe that, then you deserve to get ripped off by the big hospitals such as Chiang Mai Ram.

[Das65]

The farang royalty I'm sure will recommend Chiang Mai Ram or Suan Dawk. Not sure of the cost at those places, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Congrats on you upcoming arrival,

Hi "farang Royalty" here, my daughter was born in Chiang Mai Ram 14 months ago and i was very impressed with the service provided. The pre and post natel care was excellent, now for the price,I thought this was very reasonable at 30,000 baht for a C section delivery and 3 nights stay.

I'm sure you will have plenty of choices when you arrive in CM, just go with your gut feeling.

All the best.

[richard10365]

I also wondered about this... myth you say.. ok.. well its being perpetuated in the media with all these horrific stories of medical malpractice in government run hospitals. I mean if it is a myth, and you might want to take the next step in a conspiracy theory, you could blame the government. If the perception is that the 30 baht medical coverage is dangerous, low quality, and last resort, you would lower your over all expense because only people with no other means would being willing to go and take advantage of this service. I am sure its not the case.. but you never know...

I think if you have the baby where your fiancee is from, it will be free. Unless you want a private room.

It is a myth that health care outside of a big city in Thailand is poor. If you believe that, then you deserve to get ripped off by the big hospitals such as Chiang Mai Ram.

I'm not sure and don't really hear a lot about medical malpratice in government run hospitals. I do hear more about the private hospitals in Chiang Mai as being decietful in their business practices. Often, healthcare is manipulated in order to make more money from the foreigner here in Thailand.

Chiang Mai Ram does have a reputation for this behavior. The ambulance drivers are even in on their scam. In a motorcycle accident involving a foreigner (myself) and a Thai citizen (my wife) , I was taken to Chiang Mai Ram and the Thai citizen (my wife) was taken to a government hospital even though we were married. Later, my wife had to take a taxi to Chiang Mai Ram to see me.

As far as the quality of care in governement hospitals, my son was born about 20km from Laos border in a government hospital in Chiang Kham district in Phayao.

The doctor told my wife during a routine ultrasound (in this government hospital) of a problem that would increase the danger of normal child birth. He said an immediate c-section would be better. She was admitted that morning and in the afternoon they performed the surgery and my son was born.

At first, there were no private rooms so my wife had to stay in the public ward. Even though there were many people there, the atmosphere seemed nice perhaps because of the happiness associated with lots of new life around. The next day a room opened up and we moved to that room.

The c-section was free but the private room we had to pay for.

My son was born healthy with no problems with this hospital. This is quite a normal procedure for hospitals across Thailand.

I think most of the poor quality health care might come from the anamai's spread out along the country side. These are the clinics that most villagers go to when they are sick. The anamai could be considered the first line of government health care in these villages across Thailand. They could be compared to most westerners health care providers. The medical workers in the anamai's are known by most people in the villages.

I have seen some off the wall diagnosis from the anamai health care workers. Once I questioned their diagnosis and gotten a 2nd opinion from a clinic in Chiang Kham which was correct.

The doctors in the government hospitals in the provinces do provide good care. I think there is a standard that most hospitals have to meet. Government as well as private hospitals must meet this standard to be allowed to operate. If they meet the standard, then the hospital can be said to provide good quality care which most, if not all, do.

Now what seperates private from government hospitals would be the extras, above the standard, that they provide.

If your willing, have lots of money laying around and want all the extras as well as the standard care, then go to a private hospital.

If all you want is the standard medical care (in this case to have a baby) for free, then go to a government hospital.

The choice is yours.

[anonymouse]

"My wife went to the Chiang Mai Women and Children Hospital, in Thai called Rongphayaban Mae La Dek. "

I'm glad that this posters wife had a pleasant experience and a healthy child but in my experience

My wife had our first child at this hospital and I found the staff incompetent and unfriendly. We checked out of the hospital early and luckily my son is in good health.

Our second child was born at McCormick Hospital on Kaew Nawarat Rd, we found this hospital fine, the doctor who perfomed this caesarian, said that the previous caesarian had been done very badly and he had difficulty removing the baby from the womb.

Edited July 16, 2007 by anonymouse

[Rabbit]

Congratulations.

My wife and I welcomed our first child into the world at the Chiang Mai Ram hospital last month, see me post about this on the topic " Chiang Mai Ram Bill - charged then reduced" for our experiences - not good.

However our son is healthy and so is my wife.

Appart from the doctor who performed the circumcision on our son all the other doctors we dealt with seemed proffessional, the nurses are another story.

It cost us around 60K THB, this was a c section with 3 nights in a private room.

We first went to the ladies hospital mentioned in previous post and felt we were being treated like cattle, not really an upto date service provided there. however many people say that hospital is the most professional hospistal in Chiang Mai in regards to child birth.

I can't give you any other recommendation other than don't go to the CM Ram, shop around, have somewhere that is convenient for the both of you and most importantly a doctor that your wife is comfortable and confident with.

Best of luck.

Where are you from in Australia, I am from Busselton in WA.

[iainiain101]

"My wife went to the Chiang Mai Women and Children Hospital, in Thai called Rongphayaban Mae La Dek. "

We had our first child there a couple of months ago. Generally very good experience, but be aware, they practice 'natural birth' so no C section or pain killers unless it is an emergency. - big shock to the missus!

Iain

[Blinky Bill]

About 90%, probably more, of the children born in the world these days are born without the assistance expensive doctors, midwives and 5 star hospitals.

The process has been going on for quite a few years now.

In my opionion the good old get tough or die spartan attitude is a bloody good one. There are far too many wimps in the world these days.

[mcgriffith]

GOOOOOOOO, Spartans!

McG

[JuniorExPat]

hangover tomorrow, junior? don't stop the medication. :-)

Yup - already posted a penance in another thread!! What's with the new user ID?

JxP

[tigerbeer]

hangover tomorrow, junior? don't stop the medication. :-)

Yup - already posted a penance in another thread!! What's with the new user ID?

JxP

Jxp,

In case you didn't notice, a whole new development on Thaivisa, CM forums. New memberships are growing like wild mushrooms. Got yourself a new one too??? I'm sticking with Tigerbeer!

TB..

[mcgriffith]

hangover tomorrow, junior? don't stop the medication. :-)

Yup - already posted a penance in another thread!! What's with the new user ID?

JxP

Jxp,

In case you didn't notice, a whole new development on Thaivisa, CM forums. New memberships are growing like wild mushrooms. Got yourself a new one too??? I'm sticking with Tigerbeer!

TB..

I guess all the folks who don't want to meet their "adversaries" from past flame wars at the CM TV BBQ are becoming "joe xyz 1", with 1 posting.....

McG

Edited July 17, 2007 by mcgriffith

[Blinky Bill]

hangover tomorrow, junior? don't stop the medication. :-)

Yup - already posted a penance in another thread!! What's with the new user ID?

JxP

Jxp,

In case you didn't notice, a whole new development on Thaivisa, CM forums. New memberships are growing like wild mushrooms. Got yourself a new one too??? I'm sticking with Tigerbeer!

TB..

I guess all the folks who don't want to meet their "adversaries" from past flame wars at the CM TV BBQ are becoming "joe xyz 1", with 1 posting.....

McG

No balls. That's all........no balls!!