A few days/weeks ago, I read somewhere that somebody was asking if there was a General Practionner in Thailand.
Today, on my monthly checkup, I noticed a sign which pointed to a General Practionner.
Thus, it exists in Thailand.
 

The first doctors you see at the big hospitals are GPs, then they refer to specialists if necessary and available

Here on Samui they are more akin to the docs from M*A*S*H fixing all of the folk that crash their scooters. 

17 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

The first doctors you see at the big hospitals are GPs, then they refer to specialists if necessary and available

Not saying you are wrong, but I have never once had that experience.   Mostly skin issues and orthopedic where they send me directly to that department. 

The General examination room is I believe for blood pressure, heart rate, and weight.

 

9 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Not saying you are wrong, but I have never once had that experience.   Mostly skin issues and orthopedic where they send me directly to that department. 

The General examination room is I believe for blood pressure, heart rate, and weight.

 

My experience of Memorial, Pattaya City and Bangkok Pattaya was i saw a generalist first. Pattaya International a specialist because i knew what i needed

33 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

The first doctors you see at the big hospitals are GPs, then they refer to specialists if necessary and available

Probably varies with hospitals and will depend on whether you are already registered or not.

I use the government hospital at Bang Saen and when I first registered I saw a doctor but wouldn't call her a GP, looked like she had just qualified. All she did was based on what you said, decide where to send you. I ended up with appointment for heart and respiratory problems in the Internal Medicine dept. They have about a dozen consulting rooms with doctors of various disiplines but hardly specialists. When I needed to  see a dermatologist my wife just rang Internal medicine and asked for an appointment. That doctor then referred me to a specialist.

Apart from changing buildings, been going to the first internal medicine doctor 4 times a year for about 8 years now, just dishes out prescriptions and blood tests. With around 30 patients to see in a 3 hour window, not much else they can do.

17 minutes ago, sandyf said:

I saw a doctor but wouldn't call her a GP, looked like she had just qualified. All she did was based on what you said, decide where to send you

That's classic GP, generalist that may or may not be good, Pattaya City seemed to have a load of young doctors which usually means limited experience 

Thanks for asking this question 

 

I have a lot of experience with GP's in Pattaya and have seen most of them including the Thai doctors 

 

Dr Olivier is the best in my opinion 

He has  given me numerous tests and blood tests 

On my last visit he remembered me !😂

As he called my name "George !

He was stunned as I walked up and said "it's you again ! 

 

I will be going back to see him next month 

 

This was covered earlier this month at 

 

 

The short answer was "generally no".

16 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

That's classic GP, generalist that may or may not be good, Pattaya City seemed to have a load of young doctors which usually means limited experience 

Pattaya City is a government hospital, the others you mentioned are all private, that can make a big difference.

My niece is a junior doctor in a government hospital, supplements her income freelancing at weekends. When she first started, didn't get paid or have a day off for 6 months.

I agree with sandy, most doctors who call themselves GP's tend to be traffic cops who fix the easy problems and then refer anything else upwards and I would guess they may get a commission. That doesn't make them bad, it's just that they probably wont perform all the duties of a family GP as they are understood in say the UK.

Many (but not all) government hospitals require that you fiirst see  a junior doctor (in fact this is often actually a medical student) who functions as a sort of gate keeper deciding if and which specialist you need. Theydo not function as GPs/family doctors in the Western sense.

 

If you are certain of what you need it may be possible to bypass this step.

 

Some hospitals use nurses for initial screeming/triage and referral.

 

In private hospitsls you can always go directly to a specialist but if you are unsure of what you need they will send you to an internal medecine doctor.