Racism or "just" bad behavior at Pattaya City Hospital?

[Parsve]

Let me start by saying that this does not apply to all staff. Most are very nice. I visit said hospital about every two months for refills on high blood pressure medication.

 

About six months ago, when I was going to register, I was waiting in line. When it was my turn, the registrar looked up at me, pointed, and said, "Go and stand last in line". There were 8 to 10 Thais behind me. He refused to register me unless I waited until the Thais were registered.

 

On November 14, it was again time to refill medicine. This is not a complicated procedure, the effective time from when I register until I receive and pay for the medicine is about 10 minutes, of which two to three are at the doctor's (the doctor asks how I feel and then signs the prescription).

This time the registration and the nurse's questions went quickly. As usual, I was referred to "station 4", where I assume that what the nurse at the previous station wrote down on the registration is transferred to a database. I left my document in a basket in front of the two nurses and one of them picked it up. Wait she said, and I waited for five hours to be exact. In the meantime, they let about 50 people who had come after me, in to the doctor. I approached the nurse and asked what was going on, sit down and wait a moment she said. I waited another half hour, then I went to the other nurse and said, give me my document.

In front of her was a stack of about 10 documents for the next round to be admitted to the doctor, but mine wasn't there. She knew, however, without asking me for my name, immediately where it was. It was alone about a meter from the pile where it should have been several hours earlier. I took the document and went out with the words. There are more and better hospitals in the city.

It cannot be blamed on unfortunate circumstances. In both cases, everyone involved knew very well what they were doing. Many, both foreigners and Thais, that I have spoken to about these events say that they have similar experiences from the same hospital.

 

60 years ago, Pattaya was an insignificant fishing village, now, thanks to tourism, it is a big city. Before the pandemic, tourism accounted for more than 21% of Thailand's GDP and it still accounts for a high proportion of Thailand's income, not least thanks to the foreigners who are permanent residents here. Unfortunately, some of the staff and management of the said hospital don't seem to understand that without us, Pattaya would degenerate back into a fishing village, because just like there are other hospitals in Pattaya, there are other places that can offer the same thing as Pattaya, but with a friendly attitude ( I look forward to an explanation of the behavior from the hospital management).

[quake]

Change hospital.

Always been treated well in hospitals in Pattaya and nongkhai.

But had my wallet tapped up in one hospital in pattaya.

wonder what one that was. 

 

 

[scubascuba3]

Strange experience, I've not seen them doing it, standard is to serve everyone in order, maybe they don't like you for some reason. Go to Bang Lamung or Queen Sirikit hospital instead

[save the frogs]

1 hour ago, Parsve said:

Pattaya would degenerate back into a fishing village,

It was probably better off as a fishing village

[quake]

36 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

It was probably better off as a fishing village

 

Yes sure.

All them thousands of Thai people not to have a job.

Like hundreds  of bank staff,  hundreds of workers  at Big-C, Lotus, Makro, shops, taxi drivers, blue and whit collar workers.

Hospital workers, doctors , nurses, just to mention a few.

Yes way to go man.

Dumbest post of the week. 

 

[scubascuba3]

50 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

It was probably better off as a fishing village

Those who don't like Pattaya can go to the other side of the bay to Hua Hin

[pomchop]

why would anyone go to a hospital to pick up a script refill?  Pharmacies everywhere lot cheaper and little to no hassles.  If your doc won't offer easy refill then get another doctor.

[Caldera]

9 hours ago, Parsve said:

60 years ago, Pattaya was an insignificant fishing village, now, thanks to tourism, it is a big city.

 

And for that reason alone, every single employee of every single hospital should be thanking you and other tourists and expats like you to this day. On their knees.

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, pomchop said:

why would anyone go to a hospital to pick up a script refill?  Pharmacies everywhere lot cheaper and little to no hassles.  If your doc won't offer easy refill then get another doctor.

 

That was my thought - Are these meds not available from a regular Pharmacy ?

 

Most meds, unless highly  controlled, can be purchased at a pharmacy, I'm sure Blood-Pressure meds are not controlled, so why even go to the Dr. in the first place ?

 

 

Was this racism? It seems more like general incompetence combined with plenty of disregard and indifference.

[alanrchase]

5 hours ago, pomchop said:

why would anyone go to a hospital to pick up a script refill?  Pharmacies everywhere lot cheaper and little to no hassles.  If your doc won't offer easy refill then get another doctor.

Not true. Meds from a government hospital are often significantly cheaper than a pharmacy. Monthly supply for me is 300 baht from the hospital and 850 baht in a pharmacy.

[richard_smith237]

5 minutes ago, alanrchase said:

Not true. Meds from a government hospital are often significantly cheaper than a pharmacy. Monthly supply for me is 300 baht from the hospital and 850 baht in a pharmacy.

 

Thats interesting - I have never found this to be the case... 

 

In my experience, Medication has always been more expensive directly from the hospital to such a degree, when I visit a hospital, I get the name of the medication prescribed and go and get it elsewhere, particularly if it going to expensive stuff....

... But even a strip of Ibuprofen (accorcia) is about 3-4x more expensive when prescribed and obtained directly from the hospital. 

 

Clearly this is a case of experiences vary (YMMV)...  

Government hospitals may well be cheaper.... Private certainly aren't.

 

 

Edited Friday at 06:36 AM by richard_smith237

[alanrchase]

5 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Thats interesting - I have never found this to be the case... 

 

In my experience, Medication has always been more expensive directly from the hospital to such a degree, when I visit a hospital, I get the name of the medication prescribed and go and get it elsewhere, particularly if it going to expensive stuff....

... But even a strip of Ibuprofen (accorcia) is about 3-4x more expensive when prescribed and obtained directly from the hospital. 

 

Clearly this is a case of experiences vary (YMMV)...  

Government hospitals may well be cheaper.... Private certainly aren't.

 

 

I totally agree that private hospitals are way more expensive for meds than a pharmacy, that is why I specified government hospitals. All the medications I get from the government hospital are significantly cheaper. 

[Parsve]

10 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Strange experience, I've not seen them doing it, standard is to serve everyone in order, maybe they don't like you for some reason. Go to Bang Lamung or Queen Sirikit hospital instead

Thanks for the good advice.

[cardinalblue]

Why do you need to see the doctor for refills on medication especially BP or cholesterol?

 

Go to any pharmacy…

[Parsve]

4 minutes ago, cardinalblue said:

Why do you need to see the doctor for refills on medication especially BP or cholesterol?

 

Go to any pharmacy…

Good question, others have asked that too, and the answer is two. I have not thought about it. The other reason is that I have had this medication for about 10 years and those pills I get are working fine. 555, in fact, the first pills I got, gave me an allergic reaction my throat swelled up, and so did my di*k. With one hand I could not reach around it when it was "sleeping", and no, my wife was not happy about it either.

[G_Money]

Switch to Bangkok Pattaya.  No silly xenophobic nonsense.

[bkk6060]

I have had just the opposite expereince they seem to bend over backwards for Falang.

Did you have an appt? Sorry, seems pretty much a waste to wait for 5 hours?  30 minutes at the most.

[Captor]

On 11/14/2024 at 9:06 PM, Parsve said:

Let me start by saying that this does not apply to all staff. Most are very nice. I visit said hospital about every two months for refills on high blood pressure medication.

 

About six months ago, when I was going to register, I was waiting in line. When it was my turn, the registrar looked up at me, pointed, and said, "Go and stand last in line". There were 8 to 10 Thais behind me. He refused to register me unless I waited until the Thais were registered.

 

On November 14, it was again time to refill medicine. This is not a complicated procedure, the effective time from when I register until I receive and pay for the medicine is about 10 minutes, of which two to three are at the doctor's (the doctor asks how I feel and then signs the prescription).

This time the registration and the nurse's questions went quickly. As usual, I was referred to "station 4", where I assume that what the nurse at the previous station wrote down on the registration is transferred to a database. I left my document in a basket in front of the two nurses and one of them picked it up. Wait she said, and I waited for five hours to be exact. In the meantime, they let about 50 people who had come after me, in to the doctor. I approached the nurse and asked what was going on, sit down and wait a moment she said. I waited another half hour, then I went to the other nurse and said, give me my document.

In front of her was a stack of about 10 documents for the next round to be admitted to the doctor, but mine wasn't there. She knew, however, without asking me for my name, immediately where it was. It was alone about a meter from the pile where it should have been several hours earlier. I took the document and went out with the words. There are more and better hospitals in the city.

It cannot be blamed on unfortunate circumstances. In both cases, everyone involved knew very well what they were doing. Many, both foreigners and Thais, that I have spoken to about these events say that they have similar experiences from the same hospital.

 

60 years ago, Pattaya was an insignificant fishing village, now, thanks to tourism, it is a big city. Before the pandemic, tourism accounted for more than 21% of Thailand's GDP and it still accounts for a high proportion of Thailand's income, not least thanks to the foreigners who are permanent residents here. Unfortunately, some of the staff and management of the said hospital don't seem to understand that without us, Pattaya would degenerate back into a fishing village, because just like there are other hospitals in Pattaya, there are other places that can offer the same thing as Pattaya, but with a friendly attitude ( I look forward to an explanation of the behavior from the hospital management).

If you give the name of the hospital maybe more people here go to other hospitals. Maybe that can have some impact on the hospital.

[FritsSikkink]

On 11/15/2024 at 3:06 AM, Parsve said:

Let me start by saying that this does not apply to all staff. Most are very nice. I visit said hospital about every two months for refills on high blood pressure medication.

 

About six months ago, when I was going to register, I was waiting in line. When it was my turn, the registrar looked up at me, pointed, and said, "Go and stand last in line". There were 8 to 10 Thais behind me. He refused to register me unless I waited until the Thais were registered.

 

On November 14, it was again time to refill medicine. This is not a complicated procedure, the effective time from when I register until I receive and pay for the medicine is about 10 minutes, of which two to three are at the doctor's (the doctor asks how I feel and then signs the prescription).

This time the registration and the nurse's questions went quickly. As usual, I was referred to "station 4", where I assume that what the nurse at the previous station wrote down on the registration is transferred to a database. I left my document in a basket in front of the two nurses and one of them picked it up. Wait she said, and I waited for five hours to be exact. In the meantime, they let about 50 people who had come after me, in to the doctor. I approached the nurse and asked what was going on, sit down and wait a moment she said. I waited another half hour, then I went to the other nurse and said, give me my document.

In front of her was a stack of about 10 documents for the next round to be admitted to the doctor, but mine wasn't there. She knew, however, without asking me for my name, immediately where it was. It was alone about a meter from the pile where it should have been several hours earlier. I took the document and went out with the words. There are more and better hospitals in the city.

It cannot be blamed on unfortunate circumstances. In both cases, everyone involved knew very well what they were doing. Many, both foreigners and Thais, that I have spoken to about these events say that they have similar experiences from the same hospital.

 

60 years ago, Pattaya was an insignificant fishing village, now, thanks to tourism, it is a big city. Before the pandemic, tourism accounted for more than 21% of Thailand's GDP and it still accounts for a high proportion of Thailand's income, not least thanks to the foreigners who are permanent residents here. Unfortunately, some of the staff and management of the said hospital don't seem to understand that without us, Pattaya would degenerate back into a fishing village, because just like there are other hospitals in Pattaya, there are other places that can offer the same thing as Pattaya, but with a friendly attitude ( I look forward to an explanation of the behavior from the hospital management).

You can buy blood pressure medication at every small pharmacy in minutes for a much better price.

[Parsve]

5 hours ago, Captor said:

If you give the name of the hospital maybe more people here go to other hospitals. Maybe that can have some impact on the hospital.

I did.

[Puccini]

10 hours ago, Captor said:

If you give the name of the hospital maybe more people here go to other hospitals. Maybe that can have some impact on the hospital.

Parsve gave the name of the hospital in the topic title: Pattaya City Hospital.

[Maestro]

Removed off-topic posts and the replies to them.

 

This topic is about the Pattaya City Hospital named in the topic title, not about any other hospital, not about the DLT, not about land ownership, etc.

[pomchop]

On 11/15/2024 at 1:30 PM, alanrchase said:

Not true. Meds from a government hospital are often significantly cheaper than a pharmacy. Monthly supply for me is 300 baht from the hospital and 850 baht in a pharmacy.

what is the name of the med?  is one generic and other name brand.?..i have never found any private or public hospital pharmacy prices to be cheaper when comparing apples to apples....

[SAFETY FIRST]

You've only got the many miserable, moaning foreigners to blame.

A couple of decades ago when I arrived, you could visit any government department, we were treated like KINGS, not any more, the Thai's are fed up with all the nasty foreigners. 

 

That hospital on Soi Buakhou, I've seen some foreigners acting inappropriately, causing trouble, it can be difficult for the Thai's working there at times. 

 

 

Edited 59 minutes ago by SAFETY FIRST

[richard_smith237]

42 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

You've only got the many miserable, moaning foreigners to blame.

A couple of decades ago when I arrived, you could visit any government department, we were treated like KINGS, not any more, the Thai's are fed up with all the nasty foreigners. 

 

That hospital on Soi Buakhou, I've seen some foreigners acting inappropriately, causing trouble, it can be difficult for the Thai's working there at times. 

 

I think its fortunate that the vast majority of Thai's are good enough to treat us based on individual merit and not with prejudice... 

But, I can see how in some area's of very high tourist and foreigner 'foot-fall' may expose Thai's to a greater incidence of poor behavior and that can lead to a 'familiarity breeds contempt' type situation.... Equally so, in such area's when a foreigner shows politeness and humility, this may be met with a certain degree of relief on the part of the Thai's who may have become a little jaded.

 

Outside of area's of high tourist / foreigner footfall - there is a far greater likelihood of favourable treatment as exposure to foreigners maybe less concentrated, additionally, there may be less exposure to unhinged foreigners outside of 'foreign hotspots', which again lends to locals being less jaded towards foreigners. 

 

 

This difference in 'jaded attitudes' can be noted at various markets etc around Thailand.... Walk a market in a less touristy area and the interaction with Thai's is far more pleasant, than a market in Patong - as mentioned earlier, 'familiarity breeds contempt' ... and the behavior of 'some foreigners' does not help and neither does the fact that such area's may attract Thai's from outside the area who are only drawn to working in such locations to try to take advantage of foreigners...   ... a double edged sword...