Can anyone give me some knowledge and tips about using Bang Lamung government hospital in Pattaya please?  First question is how early do I need to get there to check in as a new patient at the outpatient clinic?  I have been told 5 am to 5:30 am  to take a que number. Is that correct? Is the clinic open that early, or just the office section that hands out the que number? Is the que number spit out by a machine or at a desk?

Which building is the clinic in? The big blue building? I hear they have several buildings numbered 1 to 9.

Does the hospital have a specialized heart clinic of any kind?

Thanks a bunch for any info or help.

 

It is a general hospital, so unlikley to have a specialized heart clinic but might have a cardiologist available.

 

Government hospital outpatient clinics generally open up around 8 AM but queue numbers are given out well beforehand.

 

The above refers to the public channel.  Most general and regional hospitals also have a semi-prIvate channel through an "after hours" clinic (Thai " clinic nawk wela" ) that is typically from 4 pm onward (queue starting around 3 PM) and Saturday mornings. I am not 100% sure but probably Bang Lamung has this as well, perhaps others can advise. If available, this will cost a frew hundred baht more but  is much preferred. Not only does it avoid the break of dawn arrival but you directly see a more senior doctor whereas in the public channel most care is from doctors in training (supervised, of course, but still....). For a suspected heart problem I would definitely advise this route, assuming it is available.

 

Re the building layout,  will have to wait for a Pattaya resident to reply.

OK, thank you very much for that good information! I will definitely look into the Nawk Wela clinic. Sounds like just what I need! I will go to the hospital tomorrow afternoon to inquire about that specific thing and get the lay of the buildings and get registered as a patient if I can.

I appreciate that very helpful information! Have a good night!

RON

Please make it certain for yourself that they can "read" ECG. Often they only know how to take it, but clueless about those little "dents" and "angles" of the diagram. There is a lot of information about your heart. Just have to know how to read it. 

20 hours ago, NativeBob said:

Please make it certain for yourself that they can "read" ECG. Often they only know how to take it, but clueless about those little "dents" and "angles" of the diagram. There is a lot of information about your heart. Just have to know how to read it. 

The technicians (sic) who do the EKG are neither trained nor expected to read it. Cardiologist and cardiology nurses can. General doctors should also have a basic understanding but in practice, this is variable. 

 

The EKG machines often generate an automatic interpretation but yhis needs verification and correllation to the clinical presentation. 

For the first public hospital that I visited, I found out the time that the ‘clinic’ started and arrived there about that time and then waited about 2 hours (plus?) to see the doctor.

For further visits, I was given an appointment time.

On arrival, I was given a queue number and waited about 1 hour to see the doctor.

 

I have recently visited Bang Lamung Hospital . My first doctor’s appointment was easy for me as I had a doctor’s referral from another hospital. The nurse near the registration desk was very good – telephoned the doctor and gave me a form with some blood tests to do prior to appointment.

 

I believe there are 10 buildings.

I know Building 10 is the building for blood tests, and I think Building 3 is where I see my specialist.

Buildings have a building number, plus some Thai writing underneath.

There are very few sign in English.

Easy to get confused, even on further visits.

 

This same hospital had a mention recently – don’t know how to copy the post – look at my posts on page 3 on this topic:

Foreigner friend - Broken leg - No insurance - 400k+ medical bills - What next?

I mention a bit about a “gold card” as something on Google reviews of hospital (as translated from Thai) – looks like it may facilitate treatment – still don’t know what this is.

Don't need it at the moment as my appointments are being neatly arranged.

Previously, at another public hospital, I enrolled at their Special Clinic.

It worked well, much as described by Sheryl above.

 

6 minutes ago, John49 said:

This same hospital had a mention recently – don’t know how to copy the post – look at my posts on page 3 on this topic:

Foreigner friend - Broken leg - No insurance - 400k+ medical bills - What next?

I mention a bit about a “gold card” as something on Google reviews of hospital (as translated from Thai) – looks like it may facilitate treatment – still don’t know what this is.

Don't need it at the moment as my appointments are being neatly arranged.

Previously, at another public hospital, I enrolled at their Special Clinic.

It worked well, much as described by Sheryl above.

 

You can copy your post by clicking on the 3 dots in the top-right corner and choosing share, Then click on "copy to clipboard. Then you can paste the link.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1333460-foreigner-friend-broken-leg-no-insurance-400k-medical-bills-what-next/page/3/#findComment-19448588

"Gold card" is one term for the universal free health care system which covers Thai citizens not under Social Security.

 

Not available to non Thai citizene. 

On 12/22/2024 at 10:45 PM, NativeBob said:

Please make it certain for yourself that they can "read" ECG. Often they only know how to take it, but clueless about those little "dents" and "angles" of the diagram. There is a lot of information about your heart. Just have to know how to read it. 

Roger that!! Good thought!  I will act all dumb (which I am naturally good at) and ask the doctor to give me a short course in what all the wonderings of the line means. See what he says. I happen to have an EKG from my physical taken at a private hospital the other day. I don't suppose you or someone else here can read a EKG can you? My chest x-ray and ultra sound indicate a enlarged heart, so that is why I need to have a cardilogist look at me.  Appreciate the tip!

22 hours ago, Sheryl said:

The technicians (sic) who do the EKG are neither trained nor expected to read it. Cardiologist and cardiology nurses can. General doctors should also have a basic understanding but in practice, this is variable. 

 

The EKG machines often generate an automatic interpretation but yhis needs verification and correllation to the clinical presentation. 

Thank you for the info Ms Sheryl. I do hope to see a cardiologist or at least a cardio nurse this week. I was going to go yesterday but they had my motorbike in the shop all day instead of the 3 hours they said it would be.

Thank you for the info Ms Sheryl. I do hope to see a cardiologist or at least a cardio nurse this week. I was going to go yesterday but they had my motorbike in the shop all day instead of the 3 hours they said it would be.

I suggest you go to Building 10, 3rd floor, International Relations. The team there are friendly and speak good English, they will be able to tell you what you need to know, and help you register.

19 hours ago, John49 said:

For the first public hospital that I visited, I found out the time that the ‘clinic’ started and arrived there about that time and then waited about 2 hours (plus?) to see the doctor.

For further visits, I was given an appointment time.

On arrival, I was given a queue number and waited about 1 hour to see the doctor.

 

I have recently visited Bang Lamung Hospital . My first doctor’s appointment was easy for me as I had a doctor’s referral from another hospital. The nurse near the registration desk was very good – telephoned the doctor and gave me a form with some blood tests to do prior to appointment.

 

I believe there are 10 buildings.

I know Building 10 is the building for blood tests, and I think Building 3 is where I see my specialist.

Buildings have a building number, plus some Thai writing underneath.

There are very few sign in English.

Easy to get confused, even on further visits.

 

This same hospital had a mention recently – don’t know how to copy the post – look at my posts on page 3 on this topic:

Foreigner friend - Broken leg - No insurance - 400k+ medical bills - What next?

I mention a bit about a “gold card” as something on Google reviews of hospital (as translated from Thai) – looks like it may facilitate treatment – still don’t know what this is.

Don't need it at the moment as my appointments are being neatly arranged.

Previously, at another public hospital, I enrolled at their Special Clinic.

It worked well, much as described by Sheryl above.

 

Ahhhhhhh.........GREAT info there John! Thank you very much for all that! I had seen that thread that had the broken leg post a few days ago. The post on that thread is what conviniced me to go there instead of the Queen Sirikit hospital (much further away). That in fact the Bang Lamung hospital is a good place to go.

Do you happen to know the number of the building to use for the initial check-in/cue number? Is it the blue building that you see on Google Maps?

Appreciate your time and help!

RON

9 minutes ago, Grusa said:

I suggest you go to Building 10, 3rd floor, International Relations. The team there are friendly and speak good English, they will be able to tell you what you need to know, and help you register.

Oh OK. Thank you very much for that very helpful information! I appreciate it a lot!

RON

19 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

You can copy your post by clicking on the 3 dots in the top-right corner and choosing share, Then click on "copy to clipboard. Then you can paste the link.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1333460-foreigner-friend-broken-leg-no-insurance-400k-medical-bills-what-next/page/3/#findComment-19448588

I appreciate your helpful information and time! Thank you!

RON

3 hours ago, Longlivedixie said:

Ahhhhhhh.........GREAT info there John! Thank you very much for all that! I had seen that thread that had the broken leg post a few days ago. The post on that thread is what conviniced me to go there instead of the Queen Sirikit hospital (much further away). That in fact the Bang Lamung hospital is a good place to go.

Do you happen to know the number of the building to use for the initial check-in/cue number? Is it the blue building that you see on Google Maps?

Appreciate your time and help!

RON

 

I think the blue green building is where I registered and then talked to a very competent and helpful nurse. I think the nurse will advise you on the next step according to your medical issue. I did not need to go into the building as out front, there was like a desk for registration and a small nurse station/kiosk, next to each other.

 

BTW I had an EKG at this hospital, as advised by my new doctor there. The nurse/technician gave me an on the spot result – something like “good, no problem”.

I had an Angiogram overseas some months ago, that gave a good result. The EKG was not at all necessary, I went ahead with the test just to comply with doctor’s request and it was pretty cheap and quick, plus I was curious to see what they would do and the kind of result they came up with. The test was quick, I joined a queue of about 4 people, each took less than 10 minutes.

Alrighty then. I appreciate the tip! Thanks for your time and help! I am going in by Thursday and I will report back here with my experiences.

Well, I went to Bang Lamung today. They said they could not help me as they have no heart doctors, which I find astonishing. A hospital that size in a city this size and no heart doctor??

In any case, Looks like I will need to go to Queen Sirikit hospital at U Tapao

Anybody happen to know the specifics about what time of the morning to show up there? Do they have a Special Afternoon Clinic available also?

I looked at their website but I could not seem to find the info.

Thanks!

13 minutes ago, Longlivedixie said:

Well, I went to Bang Lamung today. They said they could not help me as they have no heart doctors, which I find astonishing. A hospital that size in a city this size and no heart doctor??

In any case, Looks like I will need to go to Queen Sirikit hospital at U Tapao

Anybody happen to know the specifics about what time of the morning to show up there? Do they have a Special Afternoon Clinic available also?

I looked at their website but I could not seem to find the info.

Thanks!

The two times I've been there you enter the building, go to far right side to get an appointment with the dept, once you see them you will get another date for the specialist you want to see, i went early afternoon

Ban Lamung is a fairly low level hospital so not surprising it does not  not have a cardiologist. 

 

Quern Sirikit is small.  lt might hsve one but  maybe not every day.

 

Best option for cardioligy in terms of government hospitals would be the Red Cross Hospital in Sri Racha  https://maps.app.goo.gl/KUHMG3VhjUou1jZc8

 

There are also  several private options.  Pattaya MEmorial probably the least expensive. 

 

 

Can anyone compare Bang Lamung Hospital with Pattaya City Hospital,?

 

26 minutes ago, chingching said:

Can anyone compare Bang Lamung Hospital with Pattaya City Hospital,?

 

I went to PCH after a dog bite, i wasn't impressed with their A&E i.e. don't go there, not much going on, BLH on the other hand very busy, pretty slick and because of the numbers should be good at what they do. PCH also had very young trainee type doctors. BLH cheaper

I’ve started chemotherapy at BLH and I’m impressed with events to date.

The key generic medication that I need is imported from India and it's immediately available at the on-site drug store at a not unreasonable price.

This is contrary to my previous experience where there seemed to be large markups on imported generics of this type.

 

The chemo ward is modern, clean and well organised.

The only negative was picking up some additional meds at the pharmacy counter itself inside the main building, where I had a long wait.

On 12/26/2024 at 5:03 PM, Sheryl said:

Ban Lamung is a fairly low level hospital so not surprising it does not  not have a cardiologist. 

 

Quern Sirikit is small.  lt might hsve one but  maybe not every day.

 

Best option for cardioligy in terms of government hospitals would be the Red Cross Hospital in Sri Racha  https://maps.app.goo.gl/KUHMG3VhjUou1jZc8

 

There are also  several private options.  Pattaya MEmorial probably the least expensive. 

 

 

Thank you very much for that info!  I will keep it in mind. But, I am closer to Sirikit and there is much less traffic between here and there. I will report back with my experiences there.

8 hours ago, Longlivedixie said:

Thank you very much for that info!  I will keep it in mind. But, I am closer to Sirikit and there is much less traffic between here and there. I will report back with my experiences there.

Might I ask what exactly you need a cardiologist for?  If it is only for medication refills, most cardiovascular meds can be bought over the counter at a pharmacy here. If it is to evaluate a problem that you think is heart related, might do better with an internist in case the cause is something else.

9 hours ago, Longlivedixie said:

Thank you very much for that info!  I will keep it in mind. But, I am closer to Sirikit and there is much less traffic between here and there. I will report back with my experiences there.

I've heard reports Sirikit cardiology dept is good, worth a visit to get familiar with it and the process

Best place to go locally is Chonburi Hospital

9 hours ago, bang saen guy said:

Best place to go locally is Chonburi Hospital

Reviews on Google maps aren't great

One of the things that prompted me to visit BLH, were the good reviews on Google.

 

How does a public hospital manage to get a high score of 4.2?

 

Must be doing something right.

Sheryl should be along soon comment on the recent posts. Both are mistaken