I have recently had cancer surgery and now need to move ahead with  radiotherapy ( and possibly immunotherapy). 
I am fortunate in that I am well covered from an insurance perspective.

Any views on the best post-op oncology centers in Bangkok, in particular with a focus on radiology.

my thoughts so far:

   1) Chula, great doctors, advanced tech , incl the only proton beam facility in Thailand, and one of the only 22 such facilities in the world! However not sure that technology is appropriate for my case , and then there are the crowds.

   2) Bumrungrad’s Horizon center, my regular general hospital, but not so sure about them in this area.

   3) Bangkok hospital,s attached specialist cancer unit , Wattanosoth seems to be good reports about this place.

   4) Vejathani and Rama 9 also seem to attract good reviews.

 

 Any thoughts most welcomed.

Regarding your No. 3, Bangkok Hospital. This was 10 years ago but I see Dr. Sakpisid Nawasiri is still listed at the cancer department. He treated me for prostate cancer via Image Modulated Radiotherapy. 35 treatments, 5 days a week for 7 weeks. Well, needless to say, I was impressed with all the staff and doctor during treatment and I am still here and healthy. At least worth consulting him.

Choice of doctor is more important than hospital as long as hospital has up to date equipment (Bumrungrad and Bangkok Hospital for sure do). It would help to know what type of cancer you have.

 

That said, the Bangkok Hospital Wattanasoth Cancer Center has a good array od specialists for comprehensive cancer care including a good palliative team (contrary to what many people assume, you do not need to be terminal to consult palliative specialists, and they can be helpful with things like treatment side effects. )

On 8/30/2024 at 4:20 PM, Sheryl said:

Choice of doctor is more important than hospital as long as hospital has up to date equipment (Bumrungrad and Bangkok Hospital for sure do). It would help to know what type of cancer you have.

 

That said, the Bangkok Hospital Wattanasoth Cancer Center has a good array of specialists for comprehensive cancer care including a good palliative team (contrary to what many people assume, you do not need to be terminal to consult palliative specialists, and they can be helpful with things like treatment side effects. )

Thanks for that, I have decided to go with Wattanasoth

On 8/26/2024 at 5:53 PM, wordchild said:

1) Chula, great doctors, advanced tech , incl the only proton beam facility in Thailand, and one of the only 22 such facilities in the world! However not sure that technology is appropriate for my case , and then there are the crowds.

You can see some Doctors at Chula radiation oncology at after hours "special clinic". Less wait and less bureaucracy.

On 9/1/2024 at 10:59 AM, mokwit said:

You can see some Doctors at Chula radiation oncology at after hours "special clinic". Less wait and less bureaucracy.

What hours does this special clinic normally operate, please.?

might vary with each Doctor but, 4-6pm

32 minutes ago, saintdomingo said:

What hours does this special clinic normally operate, please.?

Weekdays it starts at 4 pm. I think there are also hours on Saturday. Be forewarned it is not cheap. About 1000 baht to see a specialist and waits can be realy long (5 hours last time I wrnt though YMMV). Makes sense  if you expect the consultation to lead to surgery or other costly procedure but not so much if you need just a consultation. 

10 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Weekdays it starts at 4 pm. I think there are also hours on Saturday. Be forewarned it is not cheap. About 1000 baht to see a specialist and waits can be realy long (5 hours last time I wrnt though YMMV). Makes sense  if you expect the consultation to lead to surgery or other costly procedure but not so much if you need just a consultation. 

 

Sheryl,  The OP says he's pretty nicely insured.  But do you have any insights or suggestions for those whose insurance isn't as stout, and may be on a tighter budget?  Or any differential in seeing a particular doctor in the different venues based on how they handle insurance and billing?

 

 

On 9/1/2024 at 10:59 AM, mokwit said:

You can see some Doctors at Chula radiation oncology at after hours "special clinic". Less wait and less bureaucracy.

I apologise for being cheeky I was wondering if I got the after hours job and I did. The waiting time is the luck of the draw, I think the longest I waited was 2 hours. One thing I would say about Chula is that helps a lot if you have a Thai speaker with you, preferably one with some experience of Thai government hospitals. Otherwise it can be hard going.

17 minutes ago, saintdomingo said:

One thing I would say about Chula is that helps a lot if you have a Thai speaker with you, preferably one with some experience of Thai government hospitals. Otherwise it can be hard going.

Yes, I should have warned of that. It is not easy to navigate, but staff are helpful and will point you in the right direction.

 

Price should be an indication of whether you got after hours - Bt50 plus Bt 200 surcharge for seeing Doctor for foreigner in regular, and Bt500 total for "special clinic".

10 hours ago, mokwit said:

Yes, I should have warned of that. It is not easy to navigate, but staff are helpful and will point you in the right direction.

 

Price should be an indication of whether you got after hours - Bt50 plus Bt 200 surcharge for seeing Doctor for foreigner in regular, and Bt500 total for "special clinic".

My friend (Cambodian) was charged 1000+ plus.

 

This was to see an ortho specialist. 

40 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

My friend (Cambodian) was charged 1000+ plus.

 

This was to see an ortho specialist. 

I don't know if individual Doctors charge their own rate, but this was with someone senior in Radiation Oncology.

35 minutes ago, mokwit said:

I don't know if individual Doctors charge their own rate, but this was with someone senior in Radiation Oncology.

Through the after hours special vlinic? And how recently? 50 baht is standard consultation charge in the publ8c channel.  Aftet hours used to be 500 but seems to have  gone up at Chula, at least for foreigners. 

18 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Through the after hours special vlinic? And how recently? 50 baht is standard consultation charge in the publ8c channel.  Aftet hours used to be 500 but seems to have  gone up at Chula, at least for foreigners. 

About two months ago. Definitely special clinic. Maybe it has gone up as he cautioned me that the price he was quoting for treatment that I paid before might be higher due to foreign price.

 

50 baht plus bt 200 surcharge is price in public channel. I have a vague memory it was just 50 baht about 2 years ago but went up to 250 at some point. I assume implementation of Anutins directives.

7 hours ago, mokwit said:

 

50 baht plus bt 200 surcharge is price in public channel. I have a vague memory it was just 50 baht about 2 years ago but went up to 250 at some point. I assume implementation of Anutins directives.

 

Npthing to do with Anutin. it is up to hospitals whether or not they want to charge foreigners more or not.

 

Some were doing so long before Anutin and some still do not.

 

Siriraj levies a 20 or 25% (forget which) surcharge.