Well, not private, but one time I went to Mahidol tropical disease clinic and the receptionist couldn't find anyone nearby who spoke English, so I ended up speaking to a fellow who was high up in scientific researchers there.  He was a relatively young guy, no apparent attitude about his position.  There was a lot of dengue at the time, and he told me with a laugh that the only tried-and-true mosquito repellent they came up with was DEET.  I was headed for the back of beyond elsewhere in SEA and he educated me on the use of antimalarials.

 

 

On 8/3/2024 at 6:49 AM, 1FinickyOne said:

Is this a service that is charged at hospitals?

 

Can it increase your medical bills if you use one? 

Gavin at Phathai in Sriracha is fantastic. Recommend the best doctors, set up the appointments, and helped me if needed. No extra cost.

 

A fantastic service

On 8/3/2024 at 8:14 AM, 1FinickyOne said:

I speak Thai - this is not about me or a friend... just asking a question. 

I helped 2 French tourists years back when they had a horrendous accident in Patong, A Norwegian man with his little boy in front on a jet ski , ran  amok right into these 2 French guys, literally opening their legs up to the knees on their left sides. First, the police, who stayed on the case for 3 weeks were  fantastic and took me everywhere, to the guys hotel, opened their safe , paid the outstanding. Bills they had etc. Drove me everywhere. The facilitator who was Italian was equally marvelous, managed the insurance claims and helped with police work as I did not speak Thai, and blocked their rooms in ICU and then their rooms off to everyone but the police and myself , as the jet ski guys wanted to see the two tourists. Even though they had nothing to do with the accident. There were many witnesses. They were lucky to be alive . The huge operations went well, albeit with zip like scars all the way to the knees. They were finally repatriated on stretchers to France where they spent 9 months in rehab. 
I don’t know how I would have managed without the facilitator and the police man . There are very good people in Thailand. The Hospital was BPH . 

 

 

 

 

 

41 minutes ago, Roo Island said:

Gavin at Phathai in Sriracha is fantastic. Recommend the best doctors, set up the appointments, and helped me if needed. No extra cost.

 

A fantastic service

 

Just now, geisha said:

 

We hardly ever compliment the people who really help. 

The foreign language facilitators are there for business reasons, not for patient best interests. If the hospitals wish to sell its services to foreigners, they need to be able to service the clientele. The facilitator can explain services offered and tests recommended. A patient is more likely to agree to a test or a procedure if the patient understands the need for it. The more services and tests purchased, the greater the hospital profit.

4 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

The foreign language facilitators are there for business reasons, not for patient best interests. If the hospitals wish to sell its services to foreigners, they need to be able to service the clientele. The facilitator can explain services offered and tests recommended. A patient is more likely to agree to a test or a procedure if the patient understands the need for it. The more services and tests purchased, the greater the hospital profit.

 

Not once have I had a hospital translator try to upsell me.

18 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Not once have I had a hospital translator try to upsell me.

No, they don't. They do their best to just  translate what the doctor or other personnel have said.

 

I have occasionally seen them privately give money saving tips to the patient. 

 

The main drawback is that the translator/facilitators are usually not medically trained so do not always fully grasp what doctor said/meant,  so  detailed  discussions around diagnosis, treatment alternatives,  prognosis etc can be difficult. Not a big issue for English speakers as doctors willing and able to go into that level of detail and shared decision- making almost always speak English well. But can be a big problem for speakers of other languages. 

 

In particular, Cambodian, Lao, Vietnamese  Bangladeshi, Nepalese etc often get only the most cursory (and sometimes garbled) explanations.  

At CM Ram it has been hit and miss.  Some of the girls can speak some English but most just say "passport please".  Most of the doctors at Ram speak very good English. I have never seen an additional charge for English faciliatators at Ram.

16 hours ago, 1FinickyOne said:

I wascurious if prices are inflated when a facilitator is involved

 

And so you can just relate your curiosity to your friend who has the bill, and then you can ask your friend what the charges were and discover specifically which are, to your mind, excessive. Is there any facilitator charge listed on the bill? No one here has ever seen such a charge, except one poster claims he was once charged B100. Would the supposed excessively-charged service involve any facilitator? You can ask your friend to call the hospital or just call the hospital yourself and ask, even though you aren't, or haven't been, a patient. 

I went to Chulalongkorn Hospital last Tuesday for a checkup.

The nurses spoke excellent English (although there was one when I first arrived who's English wasn't so good), I saw two doctors, one female and one male, both spoke very good English. The male doctor's English was absolutely fluent and perfect (almost like talking to a native English speaker). 

I had an ECG, chest x-ray, blood tests and 2 consultations with the male doctor.

Apparently I'm in excellent shape. 

Total cost 1380 THB 


 

1 hour ago, BigStar said:

 

And so you can just relate your curiosity to your friend who has the bill, and then you can ask your friend what the charges were and discover specifically which are, to your mind, excessive. Is there any facilitator charge listed on the bill? No one here has ever seen such a charge, except one poster claims he was once charged B100. Would the supposed excessively-charged service involve any facilitator? You can ask your friend to call the hospital or just call the hospital yourself and ask, even though you aren't, or haven't been, a patient. 

why so aggressive and nasty? - I doubt that my friend still has the bill from years ago... 

I like having an interpreter. My doctor speaks good English, but it's nice to have a second opinion. 

 

The interpreter also books the next appointment for me, and books the payment and pharmacy queues as well. 

 

See the doctor, then just go downstairs, get a coffee and wait for her to bring the queue number. 

 

No extra charge that I can tell. Demanding a doctor speak perfect English makes little sense to me. I would much rather have a scientist than a linguist. 

A second opinion?

 

So your interpreter is also medically qualified?

 

Impressed.