OB/GYN Recommendations

[ottomotion]

My name is Otto, my wife is 26wks pregnant and I am looking for an OB/GYN recommendation to help manage our pregnancy in Bangkok. My wife has gestational diabetes but otherwise healthy. She is 44 years old, and we conceived our child through IVF. Our son is healthy with great movement throughout the day.

 

We are looking into Semitivej for a couple of reasons:

1) their Google Review is 4.8 stars (and 6,300 people have raved about them)

2) one of the only Level IV NICU centers in Bangkok

3) My wife likes them b/c alot of celebrities have gotten their deliveries there

 

In California, we had a great indian female doctor who was very thorough. We liked that she did not leave any stones unturned. She also employed a rigorous scientific approach to medicine and never relented. After coming to Bangkok, we have been going to Dr. X  in Hospital X after reading some recommendations online. A mid-wife based in Bangkok recommended him, and we valued her opinion since she's an industry insider with lots of exposure. I'm sure she has been to alot of delivery rooms.

 

So far our experience with Dr. X has been mixed:

 

1) He delegates often due to his executive role, but his network of Bumrungrad referrals were all excellent, top-notch people

2) He's probably seen it all and has a good sense of what's critical and what's not. Hence, he is not as detailed as we'd like

 

As you can see, his strengths are also his weaknesses. Keep in mind, some doctors are good routine-care doctors, and some doctors are just great in the OR with split second decisions etc, so this isn't a criticsm on anyone's part. We have always assumed these would be the trade-offs for high-profile doctors such as Dr. X. But what if he was just a busy department head with mediocore skills?

 

Also, another motivation for exploring other doctors is that we had a incident with Hosputal X  dental center (pregnant women are prone to getting gum/dental issues) where the doctor there placed Amalgam filling inside my wife's mouth. Amalgam, for those who are unfamiliar, is 50-55% mercury and banned in the EU completely (US allows it for non-pregnantt people). We are just surprised that doctors in Hospital X were not aware of the latest recommendations from FDA and the EU. The way they have responded is that "Amalgam filling is allowed per Thai-FDA". I challenged this, and said your name contains the word "International" but your standards are no different than Thai public hospitals, to which they said "We are International because we receive international customers". Extremely Dissapointing.

 

 

 

[Sheryl]

6 hours ago, ottomotion said:

My name is Otto, my wife is 26wks pregnant and I am looking for an OB/GYN recommendation to help manage our pregnancy in Bangkok. My wife has gestational diabetes but otherwise healthy. She is 44 years old, and we conceived our child through IVF. Our son is healthy with great movement throughout the day.

 

We are looking into Semitivej for a couple of reasons:

1) their Google Review is 4.8 stars (and 6,300 people have raved about them)

2) one of the only Level IV NICU centers in Bangkok

3) My wife likes them b/c alot of celebrities have gotten their deliveries there

 

In California, we had a great indian female doctor who was very thorough. We liked that she did not leave any stones unturned. She also employed a rigorous scientific approach to medicine and never relented. After coming to Bangkok, we have been going to Dr. X  in Hospital X after reading some recommendations online. A mid-wife based in Bangkok recommended him, and we valued her opinion since she's an industry insider with lots of exposure. I'm sure she has been to alot of delivery rooms.

 

So far our experience with Dr. X has been mixed:

 

1) He delegates often due to his executive role, but his network of Bumrungrad referrals were all excellent, top-notch people

2) He's probably seen it all and has a good sense of what's critical and what's not. Hence, he is not as detailed as we'd like

 

As you can see, his strengths are also his weaknesses. Keep in mind, some doctors are good routine-care doctors, and some doctors are just great in the OR with split second decisions etc, so this isn't a criticsm on anyone's part. We have always assumed these would be the trade-offs for high-profile doctors such as Dr. X. But what if he was just a busy department head with mediocore skills?

 

Also, another motivation for exploring other doctors is that we had a incident with Hosputal X  dental center (pregnant women are prone to getting gum/dental issues) where the doctor there placed Amalgam filling inside my wife's mouth. Amalgam, for those who are unfamiliar, is 50-55% mercury and banned in the EU completely (US allows it for non-pregnantt people). We are just surprised that doctors in Hospital X were not aware of the latest recommendations from FDA and the EU. The way they have responded is that "Amalgam filling is allowed per Thai-FDA". I challenged this, and said your name contains the word "International" but your standards are no different than Thai public hospitals, to which they said "We are International because we receive international customers". Extremely Dissapointing.

 

 

 

https://www.samitivejhospitals.com/doctor/detail/patama-promsonthi

 

I have heard good things about the above doctor.

 

That said, you may not be able to find the degree of detailed oversight/solicitude here that you had before. The Thai "mai pen rai" philosophy extends to medical care. 

 

Had to edit your post to remove doctor and hospital names as Thailand has draconian defamation laws. (Also, to be fair, the actions and statements  of one doctor or dentist does not reflect the knowledge and practice of all at the same hospital. )

 

Be forewarned that, in unlikely case NICU care is required  it is extremely expensive here (as in millions of baht, plural)

  Do you have good insurance that covers this? 

[ottomotion]

Thanks Sheryl. Someone on another forum mentioned you and said you had a encyclopedic knowledge of anything medical related in Thailand, and surely you did not dissapoint! Also, thanks for letting me know about the defamation law. Have you heard of Dr. Boonsri in Semitivej? Dr. Patama looks great and we will be sure to take a look.

 

About the insurance, god forbid, our son does not arrive pre-term, but do you have any recommendations on Thai policies? We have a domestic US policy and overseas care needs to be reimbursed (and often gets denied) from reimbursement. I was looking into Allianz Ayudhya or AIA as we heard at least they're reasonable (or as reasonable as insurance companies can be anywhere in the world I guess).

[Sheryl]

23 minutes ago, ottomotion said:

Thanks Sheryl. Someone on another forum mentioned you and said you had a encyclopedic knowledge of anything medical related in Thailand, and surely you did not dissapoint! Also, thanks for letting me know about the defamation law. Have you heard of Dr. Boonsri in Semitivej? Dr. Patama looks great and we will be sure to take a look.

 

About the insurance, god forbid, our son does not arrive pre-term, but do you have any recommendations on Thai policies? We have a domestic US policy and overseas care needs to be reimbursed (and often gets denied) from reimbursement. I was looking into Allianz Ayudhya or AIA as we heard at least they're reasonable (or as reasonable as insurance companies can be anywhere in the world I guess).

Prof. Boonsri also has a very good reputation though I think a bit more focused on genetic issues.

 

Any insurance you get, will not cover the pregnancy nor any rersulting complications since it is pre-existing. Once the baby is born, and assuming healthy, you can get a policy that includes him/her.

 

Thai issued policies are best avoided as the regulatory framework is weak and track record for payouts is sub-par (some more so than others). What you need is an expatriate policy issued by a company in a developed country (but not US, US insurance market not geared to this and very costly).

 

Should go through a broker who specializes in this, important since a good broker will help later with any claims issues.  I use https://www.aoc-insurancebroker.com/

 

Note that if your wife is a Thai citizen he has access to free health care through the government system as will your child. But have to use a specific hospital (or one it refers her to) based on residence.