Why is Thai health care so good?

[Lorry]

https://www.economist.com/asia/2024/07/04/why-is-thai-health-care-so-good

 

(To read the article you can register free with any email address)

[mstevens]

I haven't read the article so cannot comment on its content. But from my experiences with Thai healthcare, what makes it great is the accessibility of specialists. In my country, it can take months to see a specialist - unless it's a genuinely life-threatening - situation whereas in Thailand you can get access to specialists pretty much right away. It's a huge difference, and I speak from personal experience when I say that there is nothing worse than waiting for a specialist's appointment when you're suffering from a serious, but non life-threatening condition which has a terrible effect on your quality of life.

[stoner]

52 minutes ago, mstevens said:

I haven't read the article so cannot comment on its content. But from my experiences with Thai healthcare, what makes it great is the accessibility of specialists. In my country, it can take months to see a specialist - unless it's a genuinely life-threatening - situation whereas in Thailand you can get access to specialists pretty much right away. It's a huge difference, and I speak from personal experience when I say that there is nothing worse than waiting for a specialist's appointment when you're suffering from a serious, but non life-threatening condition which has a terrible effect on your quality of life.

 

you sound canadian. 

[DaddyWarbucks]

Because of the highly intelligent Sino-Thais who make up the majority of the medical professionals in Thailand.

Edited July 5 by DaddyWarbucks

[JoseThailand]

I'm getting Thai social insurance right now!

[OneMoreFarang]

Intensive care

 

[KhunLA]

It is as I expect it, very good.

The query should be, 'why is healthcare so bad in 1st world countries?'

[Lorry]

6 hours ago, mstevens said:

I haven't read the article so cannot comment on its content. But from my experiences with Thai healthcare, what makes it great is the accessibility of specialists. In my country, it can take months to see a specialist - unless it's a genuinely life-threatening - situation whereas in Thailand you can get access to specialists pretty much right away. It's a huge difference, and I speak from personal experience when I say that there is nothing worse than waiting for a specialist's appointment when you're suffering from a serious, but non life-threatening condition which has a terrible effect on your quality of life.

It sounds like you compare your country's public system to Thailand's private system.  In Thailand's public hospitals,  you can wait months for a specialist. 

 

I don't find Thailand's health system very good (even the private system).

It is very good considering that Thailand is not a rich country. 

The Economist compares it with surrounding countries. 

 

But they also compare it with rich countries. 

A main metric the Economist stresses is the high life expectancy of Thais,  longer than Americans and Europeans (they don't say whether their statistics of Europe include countries like Russia and Ukraine,  probably yes).

But Thais are by far not (yet) as fat, immobile and lonely as Westerners.

They have a  combination of a (still) reasonable lifestyle and a (already) reasonable health care system 

[seajae]

trying to work out if this is an attempt at humour as april 1st has been and gone. While the health care isnt bad it is definitely not great, hospitals are a joke(go in of a night and see rats running along the corridors), the cleanliness of them is suspect at best and the waiting  to see a dpctor can take many hours. Private hospitals are average but govt run ones leave a lot to be desired and the standards are well below hospitals in the west. People admitted into hospital need their families to take care of them, a job done by nurses in the west but here you need to sleep under their beds so they can have water & food, beds changed/made etc, nurses walk around trying to look good but do bugger all for the patient, the standards are definitely third world in all aspects.

Edited July 5 by seajae

[MalcolmB]

56 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Intensive care

 

Can she check my prostate?

[Mike Lister]

I'm not sure it is.

 

A shortage of doctors in the government hospitals because everyone is chasing big bucks in the private sector.

 

Private hospital care can be good but it depends entirely on selecting the right doctor, my instinct and experience is that there are far more poor ones than very good ones. One problem is lack of oversight of the medical profession, another is that remuneration often takes precedence over medical quality. Yet another problem is the constant upselling by doctors in hospitals, even by good doctors.

[digbeth]

what's the situation like for UK's NHS, 

back when I was in the UK even to get registered wit GP there's a waiting list, and once you're on, getting appointments to see GP could be weeks

 

In Thailand on the free "30 baht" I know government hospitals supposes to take all patients in their catchment area, some might have to go to local clinic first, but for most, if they're prepared to wait in a queue at the hospital, everyone is eventually seen by a doctor within half a day at most.  Specialists at Government Hospitals depends on the field, surgeons - there'll be a few on rotation at the Amphur hospitals, other specialist like oncology there might only be one or two at big provincial hospitals that require referrals to see, and even then wait is half a month or more, 

 

About similar with social security with workers 

 

While the quality of care is good, the wait and resulting time doctors in public hospital will spend with you is what puts people off and any middle class Thais that can afford it go private and pay out of pocket or have private insurance 

[Celsius]

19 minutes ago, Lorry said:

It sounds like you compare your country's public system to Thailand's private system.  In Thailand's public hospitals,  you can wait months for a specialist. 

 

 

Exactly. You can get quick and fast healthcare even in Canada....if you go private. Comparing private and public is stupid.

 

My wife who is Thai had a medical emergency in Canada. It was so bad we had to call the ambulance. They showed up in 7-8 minutes did some tests and discharged her. She landed as a resident, but her health insurance would not be valid for another 3 months (and she never got it as we went back to Thailand). 

 

The hospital never sent us a bill. 

 

I have nothing but great things to say about Canadian healthcare.

 

 

 

 

[KhunLA]

35 minutes ago, Lorry said:

It sounds like you compare your country's public system to Thailand's private system.  In Thailand's public hospitals,  you can wait months for a specialist. 

That might be location dependent, or not wishing to pay a bit more, for off hours services.

 

Local hospital has an evening clinic for GP service/consultation, though he is a kidney specialist, but will refer you to whomever is needed, and within a week, I believe.

 

I was overdue for full abdominal ultrasound (usually done yearly or so), but wanted a few other things checked.  So he suggested a CT Scan instead.   Sounds better, a call to radiology, it was done immediately.  Returned following week for results.

 

Same in Bangkok, I found a doc for colonoscopy & endoscopy, at most popular hospital, that had an 6 ish month Q during regular hours.   Paid a bit more for off house, and was done within a week.

 

Stopped going to private hospitals for their overpriced, same, if not less care.  Not happy with most private hospital (3) results, except no long Qs, but you pay for that convenience.

 

I'll stick with govt hospitals, and think about 4 different ones so far.

Edited July 5 by KhunLA

[Lacessit]

It's not.

 

IME most doctors here throw a bucketful of pills at the patients.

 

 I have only met one doctor in Thailand who has bothered to inquire about my previous medical history.

 

I also wonder about the cost of anaesthesia, as it seems to be very high here compared to Australia.

[paddypower]

6 hours ago, stoner said:

 

you sound canadian. 

you sound American 😉 

[paddypower]

15 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

It's not.

 

IME most doctors here throw a bucketful of pills at the patients.

 

 I have only met one doctor in Thailand who has bothered to inquire about my previous medical history.

 

I also wonder about the cost of anaesthesia, as it seems to be very high here compared to Australia.

the international hospitals are not cheap.if you have ins. - if youre uninsured, your post a is a bit irrelevant. one thing i've noticed is due to the aging population of Thais (at least those with ins) and expats - knee and hip replacements have become  as common as sliced bread.

Edited July 5 by paddypower
spell

[paddypower]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Intensive care

 

what a way to go 🙂 i had a weird post to my Line this am, from someone with similar ''qualifications'' ' can Line be hacked?

[bkk6060]

My experience in 10 years here it is below par.  Have had several bad experiences and misdiagnosis.  And, I agree they will give you way too many pills.  

I go back to my home now for procedures.  Just had a colonoscopy back home and Cataract surgery on one eye.  I would not trust them with either procedure here just my opinion after consulting with Doctors.  Way over rated here in my opinion.

[Mike Lister]

9 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

My experience in 10 years here it is below par.  Have had several bad experiences and misdiagnosis.  And, I agree they will give you way too many pills.  

I go back to my home now for procedures.  Just had a colonoscopy back home and Cataract surgery on one eye.  I would not trust them with either procedure here just my opinion after consulting with Doctors.  Way over rated here in my opinion.

Strange. I had my thyroid removed and the whole process was excellent. But you have to manage some parts carefully, at one point I was seeing three different endocrinologists, for different parts of the same thing ...upsell again and roping on colleagues to earn fees

Edited July 5 by Mike Lister

[Lacessit]

2 minutes ago, paddypower said:

the international hospitals are not cheap.if you have ins. - if youre uninsured, your post a is a bit irrelevant. one thing i've noticed is due to the aging population of Thais (at least those with ins) and expats - knee and hip replacements have become  as common as sliced bread.

I have top level private health insurance in Australia. I am not insurable in Thailand due to pre-existing conditions.

 

In Australia, there is a network of professionals sharing information. Any GP or specialist can access my complete medical history during a consultation.

 

AFAIK there is no such system in Thailand.

[mstevens]

7 hours ago, stoner said:

 

you sound canadian. 

 

No, I'm from New Zealand, but I understand the healthcare systems in Canada and NZ are similar.

[paddypower]

23 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I have top level private health insurance in Australia. I am not insurable in Thailand due to pre-existing conditions.

 

In Australia, there is a network of professionals sharing information. Any GP or specialist can access my complete medical history during a consultation.

 

AFAIK there is no such system in Thailand.

Lie ?

[Lacessit]

3 minutes ago, paddypower said:

Lie ?

Meaning what?

[paddypower]

31 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

Strange. I had my thyroid removed and the whole process was excellent. But you have to manage some parts carefully, at one point I was seeing three different endocrinologists, for different parts of the same thing ...upsell again and roping on colleagues to earn fees

agree. but (there's always a 'but').  my ENT spotted early stage cancerous on my vocal chords (in 1999) On my most recent annual scope test, she read my annual ck up results from Surat's Thakisn hospital. (a VERY reasonable priced program). blood in urine - referred me to an urologist for a bladder scope. no probs. but i am very happy to pay for this level of preventative care.

Edited July 5 by paddypower
spell

[paddypower]

15 minutes ago, paddypower said:

Lie ?

to spell it out for you: Thai insurers do not check for existing conditions, unless you list them on your application form. obviously, you do not indicate that you have an Oz insurer. That said, you do have to be careful - and report honestly any medical treatment you had in Oz in recent years.

 

Edited July 5 by paddypower

[Mike Lister]

3 minutes ago, paddypower said:

to spell it out for you: Thai insurers do not check for existing conditions, unless you list them on your application form. obviously, you do not indicate that you have an Oz insurer. That said, you do have to be careful - and report honestly any medical treatment you had in Oz in recent years.

 

Any Thai insurer has always required me to list pre-existing conditions and to have a physical 

[paddypower]

4 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

Any Thai insurer has always required me to list pre-existing conditions and to have a physical 

me too...plus a copy of my most recent or a new annual check up. my mistake 25 years ago, was dealing with a Thai agent. we didn't understand each other. so he ended up listing 2 pre-existing conditions for my wife which did not exist at that time. ironically, one of those conditions arose (floaters in the eyes) due to age (20 years later). once you make any mistakes, such as ticking off the wrong box on the list of pre-existing conditions, on your ins app, you are stuck with it for life. I know - my responsibility. 🙂

[paddypower]

1 hour ago, MalcolmB said:

Can she check my prostate?

first things first....your bank balance. 🙂

[MalcolmB]

Just now, paddypower said:

first things first....your bank balance. 🙂

I have travel insurance