Dear Folks

 

Posting of This Topic is motivated by my having just read about a motorcyclist breaking a leg, and about his being unexpectedly thrown into a dire medical situation without adequate personal funds or insurance.

 

This caused me to think about the question of Government versus Private hospitals, specifically for this type of Emergency Care, beginning with being admitted through the doors of the ER, and progressing to being sent to the ICU, and maybe then to a ward for an extended stay, and then, perhaps to physical therapy before being eventually discharged.

 

So, among the many possible pertinent questions, here are a few:

 

a.  Knowing that comfort differences between a private and gov hospital may be significant, if one only looks at survival rates, or recovery times, and if one realizes that it is the science-based health care that is most important.....

Would there be much of a difference in patient outcomes for ER patients, accident patients, sent either to a private hospital or a government hospital...IF...

The gov hospital was ranked in the Top 4 in the Chiang Mai area, including several kilometers outside the city of CM?

 

b.  We already know that gov hospitals are much cheaper, but what about the hospital that is closely affiliated to Chiang Mai University?

Is CMU hospital also considered a government hospital, as CMU itself seems to be a government university or state university?

 

Also, are the healthcare services at CMU charged at any standard gov rates?

 

c.  What support from outside the hospital must the patient provide?  For example, what about food, clothes, etc?

Would it be necessary or advisable for the patient to hire a private nurse that can perform the same functions as a patient's family, IF the patient did not have family in Chiang Mai, as most Thais do?

 

d.  If the patient required a hospital stay of several weeks, just how comparatively comfortable is a gov hospital in CM, compared to some private hospital like RAM?

 

e. What happens with payment to gov hospitals if, for example, the patient must pay by credit card for hospital services?

 

So, just a few questions of importance for anyone who may be unfortunate enough to suffer a severe accident in or near CM city.

After reading the account of the guy with the broken leg, it occurred to me that the resident/visitor to Chiang Mai should do proper planning and be more proactive in order to prepare for the unforeseen circumstance that might befall even the luckiest among us.

 

I have had major surgery in an Asian hospital, and it was a university hospital, and the experience was extremely good.

I had zero complaints.

It was not a luxury experience, but I cared only about recovery.

Some say the level of healthcare in hospitals is higher in Taiwan, but I do not know.

This might be true for orthopedic surgery, though, as I have heard that Taiwan is very capable in this field.

The nursing care in Taiwan is excellent at a uni hospital.

I just do not know how Chiang Mai healthcare might compare to Taipei healthcare.

And, that only matters as a comparison to judge what might be expected at a gov/uni hospital, such as the one affiliated with CMU...

 

Regards,

Gamma 

 

Note:  I like RAM, but for trauma surgery....I have no idea what would be the best course of action....

 

 

 

 

I would never go to a private hospital with an emergency.

 

By far the most experienced doctors are in the government hospitals.

 

 

Just hold on I’ve started already and will have answers to all your questions after completing 4 months research.

 

So happy to find someone like you who really needs help.

20 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I would never go to a private hospital with an emergency.

 

By far the most experienced doctors are in the government hospitals.

 

 

 

That depends if those experienced doctors are at their gig in a private hospital.

 

So the chance with both is 50/50

If you're incapacitated, it's not going to matter. They're going to take you wherever they want, and when/if you wake up you'll just have to deal with your inferential disappointment then.

1 minute ago, Celsius said:

 

That depends if those experienced doctors are at their gig in a private hospital.

 

So the chance with both is 50/50

 

I disagree.

 

Generally, the top doctors do one day a week at private hospitals and sometimes only by appointment to see a specific patient.

 

They never leave the government hospital without a similarly experienced Doctor in charge.

 

Going to a private hospital with an emergency is a big risk, there's often nobody experienced to see you, especially after office hours.

 

I was once taken to a private hospital by my friends late evening, throwing up from the pain.  At the hospital they told me they had nobody to run the ultrasound or X-Ray and to come back the following morning. I was in no state to say where we went or I would have insisted on the government hospital.  

 

Generally, I think procedures are ok at private hospitals, However, I have had two skin cancers removed at a private hospital in Chiang Rai.  Both times I got Sepsis hours later necessitating staying a few days and antibiotic IV's.  My friend died in there from Sepsis.  I wrote to the hospital director telling him he had a problem with either the OR, the instruments or the Doctor (they were all the same).  I got no response.  They didn't actually get all the cancer the second time, I had the operation performed at the government hospital and what a difference.  Far better equipment in the OR, more nurses and they operated within 36 hours.

 

I would never take my daughters to a private hospital in an emergency.

2 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

I disagree.

 

Generally, the top doctors do one day a week at private hospitals and sometimes only by appointment to see a specific patient.

 

They never leave the government hospital without a similarly experienced Doctor in charge.

 

Going to a private hospital with an emergency is a big risk, there's often nobody experienced to see you, especially after office hours.

 

I was once taken to a private hospital by my friends late evening, throwing up from the pain.  At the hospital they told me they had nobody to run the ultrasound or X-Ray and to come back the following morning. I was in no state to say where we went or I would have insisted on the government hospital.  

 

Generally, I think procedures are ok at private hospitals, However, I have had two skin cancers removed at a private hospital in Chiang Rai.  Both times I got Sepsis hours later necessitating staying a few days and antibiotic IV's.  My friend died in there from Sepsis.  I wrote to the hospital director telling him he had a problem with either the OR, the instruments or the Doctor (they were all the same).  I got no response.  They didn't actually get all the cancer the second time, I had the operation performed at the government hospital and what a difference.  Far better equipment in the OR, more nurses and they operated within 36 hours.

 

I would never take my daughters to a private hospital in an emergency.

 

Good info, however, is this information related to Chiang Rai? Because Bangkok is a different breast..... at least that's what I think.

Just now, Celsius said:

 

Good info, however, is this information related to Chiang Rai? Because Bangkok is a different breast..... at least that's what I think.

 

I don't think anyone can argue that some of the hospitals in BKK are world class.

 

I think my post is more applicable to everywhere other than BKK.

1 hour ago, JBChiangRai said:

I would never go to a private hospital with an emergency.

 

By far the most experienced doctors are in the government hospitals.

 

 

 

OK.

Thanks for that.

And, I guess I would choose the uni hospital....is my understanding correct?

 

Because, one never knows the future, nor can we predict what might happen to us tomorrow or next week.

We must be prepared and we must know what to do...in advance....so that we do not need to try to think when thinking is just not possible.

 

 

2 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Dear Folks

 

Posting of This Topic is motivated by my having just read about a motorcyclist breaking a leg, and about his being unexpectedly thrown into a dire medical situation without adequate personal funds or insurance.

 

Yeah that fella did himself no favours going to a private hospital with no insurance.

 

Shoulda gone to the SS hospital he nominated with his employer !

55 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

 Because Bangkok is a different breast..... at least that's what I think.

 

Aren't the nipples all the same ?

10 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

OK.

Thanks for that.

And, I guess I would choose the uni hospital....is my understanding correct?

 

Because, one never knows the future, nor can we predict what might happen to us tomorrow or next week.

We must be prepared and we must know what to do...in advance....so that we do not need to try to think when thinking is just not possible.

 

 

My father in-law was a GP, he told me always go to the busiest hospitals.  They see more cases and have more experience.

 

I think you have to know how to game the system too.  For example, I use an outside lab for bloodwork, it’s more expensive but more convenient. I use Udorn Medical Group for X-Ray, Ultrasound, MRI etc, they are half the price of the government hospital, have a great car park and so can be in and out in 30 minutes. That and Mammograms is all UMG do. I give the hospital doctors a bottle of good wine every visit and I have some of their contact details on the Line app. Twice when I have seen them in a restaurant with their families I have picked up their tab quietly and once when 3 doctors were having lunch in a Mediterranean restaurant in Chiang Rai.  

Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. However I did see a plastic surgeon an hour after buying that lunch and she said her friends said to say thank you and she squeezed me in for a skin cancer operation at 8am the next morning instead of 6-8 weeks ahead.

 

I see a skin doctor every 4-8 weeks for preventative liquid nitrogen treatment being fair haired and blue eyed I am prone to skin damage. I know how the government hospital works, desk 1 register, desk 2 authorize (they check you don’t owe anything), check BP, height, weight, put the paper on a spike at the nurses station, when called say “Kid Turng Tirak”, which always gets a smile. I am usually in and out in under an hour.

 

I see a specialist doctor every 6 months, plastic surgeon every year, urologist every year, and the skin doctor. It’s a PITA but the service I get from my specialist doctor is fantastic she saved my life by checking the computer after a visit and told me to turn the car around and come back, the urologist (who looked age 16) missed that my kidneys were crashing and I needed an emergency op to remove the stone and not the pills he had just given me.

 

On my last visit in June I bumped into my usual doctor in the corridor and she said, whilst you see the urologist ask him to arrange a flu jab, we have them in stock now, and so I did.

 

IMHO health care here is a lottery, if you find a good doctor, turn them into a friend, it may save your life.