Just a heads up for the Pattaya community as I found out today Dr. Anna Jaruwarn at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya is being retired in less than 6 months.

She is a the top specialist for skin cancer here in Pattaya, especially for expats with Western skin types.

Dr. Anna actually asked very politely if I wouldn't mind to reach out to the hospital to support her staying on since she is happy to keep working but is hitting the mandatory age limit.

So in light of that I thought I would go one better and reach out to the community here

If she is your regular doc or even if you were just planning to use her services (nudge nudge wink wink) please consider sending a quick note to [email protected]. I'd even suggest saying you heard about it on a forum as this would likely add to the weight of free advertising they're getting.

If enough of us speak up and show that her expertise is the only reason we use BHP the management might actually waive the age rule to keep our business. The more support the better to help her case.

Cheers

Thanks for the heads up.

Much appreciated.

I am not in Pattaya but was curious about the mandatory age limit. Googling her indicates "Doctor of Medicine 1973". If she graduated as a medical doctor at age 25 that would make her nearly 80. Something wrong, no?

Don't know her age but surely she can work in private practice

Obviously Thailand sadly has age discrimination in place

The issue may well be the hospital's own indemnity insurers

I have had several appoinments with Dr. Anna for the last 4-5 years for the removal of skincancers and are very satisfied with her services.

I first found out about Dr. Anna here on AN.

So I will schedule an appointment with Dr. Anna Jaruwan before she is retired.

Hope she will continue working somewhere els.

1 hour ago, perconrad said:

I have had several appoinments with Dr. Anna for the last 4-5 years for the removal of skincancers and are very satisfied with her services.

I first found out about Dr. Anna here on AN.

So I will schedule an appointment with Dr. Anna Jaruwan before she is retired.

Hope she will continue working somewhere els.

That's not an option. She's not going to be working anywhere else. I discussed that with her. That's why I posted.

If you're genuinely interested in her continuing on at her suggestion, the best way is to write an email. Will it work? I don't know she doesn't know but it's about the only real option. She's not going to be working in private practise.

I just wrote an email to that link requesting a reply. I will post their response.

5 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Don't know her age but surely she can work in private practice

Obviously Thailand sadly has age discrimination in place

BPH IS private.

6 hours ago, Autocan said:

I am not in Pattaya but was curious about the mandatory age limit. Googling her indicates "Doctor of Medicine 1973". If she graduated as a medical doctor at age 25 that would make her nearly 80. Something wrong, no?

Assuming she was roughly 22 or 23 years old upon graduating in 1973, she would have been born around 1950 or 1951 - which makes her approx 75 years old....

It fit and healthy - no reason why she should quit - decades of experience in identify cancers is a huge ongoing asset to the hospital - any 'forced' retirement of someone who doesn't want to retire and continues to perform well is very short sighted.

14 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Assuming she was roughly 22 or 23 years old upon graduating in 1973, she would have been born around 1950 or 1951 - which makes her approx 75 years old....

It fit and healthy - no reason why she should quit - decades of experience in identify cancers is a huge ongoing asset to the hospital - any 'forced' retirement of someone who doesn't want to retire and continues to perform well is very short sighted.

Granted one can be fit and able well past 70, it might be the same issue that older people, no matter how healthy, have in getting health insurance - insurers might simply not want to indemnify a hospital for potential malpractice by elderly doctors.

1 hour ago, Autocan said:

Granted one can be fit and able well past 70, it might be the same issue that older people, no matter how healthy, have in getting health insurance - insurers might simply not want to indemnify a hospital for potential malpractice by elderly doctors.

I agree - it feels lazy and overly protectionist. It doesn’t really improve anything, just applies a one-dimensional approach to managing risk, which is questionable in itself. And that’s not just this hospital - it’s business in general.

The bigger issue is the waste. People like her have decades of real expertise that could still be saving lives or guiding others, but instead she’s benched because a lawyer wrote a policy that prioritises liability over judgement.

I understand the need to manage risk, especially in healthcare, but blanket rules like this are a blunt instrument. They ignore individual capability and default to what’s easiest, not what’s best.

I've been seeing Dr. Anna regularly for more than 15 years and she's great. I saw her back in mid-March for cryo and she arranged a follow-up session in mid-July as she usually goes on a long holiday in August. She used to do two clinics a week in BHP but that dropped to just one a few years ago. Her main hospital is in Bangkok, as with most of the best doctors, is it Siriraj? If she's forced to retire by BHP but can stay working in Bangkok then I'd be happy to travel there to see her.

18 hours ago, Guderian said:

I've been seeing Dr. Anna regularly for more than 15 years and she's great. I saw her back in mid-March for cryo and she arranged a follow-up session in mid-July as she usually goes on a long holiday in August. She used to do two clinics a week in BHP but that dropped to just one a few years ago. Her main hospital is in Bangkok, as with most of the best doctors, is it Siriraj? If she's forced to retire by BHP but can stay working in Bangkok then I'd be happy to travel there to see her.

She does not work in Bangkok or anywhere else that I know of. Just BPH.

Has anyone sent Bangkok Hospital Pattaya a message about Dr. Anna's forced retirement and received a reply?

No reply in my case.

I'm not sure how a doctor can be forced to retire

I was seeing a great psychiatrist a few years ago who was 80yo in Australia

Of course he would be dead now and I had to tell him at the time to live life to the fullest , but he was still going at 80

4 hours ago, Guderian said:

Has anyone sent Bangkok Hospital Pattaya a message about Dr. Anna's forced retirement and received a reply?

Suggest to her that she does private consultations

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Suggest to her that she does private consultations

I was thinking about that, after all there's enough private skin clinics in Pattaya so the market's there. If she's only working one day a week (and that one a part-day) at BHP then it seems she's not interested in doing much more, and running a private clinic would be a full-time job. Another drawback is that a lot of her older farang patients like myself go to her for the annual or biannual cryotherapy, so where would she get easy access to liquid nitrogen outside a hospital? Maybe if she was interested she could join a reputable established clinic on a part-time basis. Is there a reputable skin clinic in Pattaya, though? That's probably why we all use the hospital, lol

2 hours ago, Guderian said:

I was thinking about that, after all there's enough private skin clinics in Pattaya so the market's there. If she's only working one day a week (and that one a part-day) at BHP then it seems she's not interested in doing much more, and running a private clinic would be a full-time job. Another drawback is that a lot of her older farang patients like myself go to her for the annual or biannual cryotherapy, so where would she get easy access to liquid nitrogen outside a hospital? Maybe if she was interested she could join a reputable established clinic on a part-time basis. Is there a reputable skin clinic in Pattaya, though? That's probably why we all use the hospital, lol

Probably at her age she can't be bothered with the hassle, but you'd think she has contacts

Those with spots needing checked take a photo and ask Gemini, you'll be amazed how good the response is

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Those with spots needing checked take a photo and ask Gemini, you'll be amazed how good the response is

China has a virtual AI hospital.

Not sure how it works ...

https://rysysthtechnologies.com/insights/chinas-breakthrough-ai-agent-hospital

Agent Hospital already includes:

• 42 AI doctors

• Operating across 21 departments like pediatrics, cardiology, neurology

• Capable of treating 10,000 patients in days — something that would take human doctors over two years

Even more striking:
The AI doctors reached a 93.06% accuracy rate ....

I have been saying for some time that doctors would be one of the first casualties of AI. Doctors are fed large amounts of information that they then use to diagnose ailments. Human minds being fallible and prone to forgetfulness have problems that AI does not have. If AI is fed the correct, peer reviewed and tested information, it can keep more up to date and ask the correct questions of a patient and will probably be more correct in its diagnoses and prescription of medication or procedures than a human. The highly trained humans can work on devising and testing new cures.

6 hours ago, save the frogs said:

China has a virtual AI hospital.

Not sure how it works ...

https://rysysthtechnologies.com/insights/chinas-breakthrough-ai-agent-hospital

Agent Hospital already includes:

• 42 AI doctors

• Operating across 21 departments like pediatrics, cardiology, neurology

• Capable of treating 10,000 patients in days — something that would take human doctors over two years

Even more striking:
The AI doctors reached a 93.06% accuracy rate ....

I would favour AI doctor here over a real doctor every time, you can discuss issues in detail, they have a good bedside manner. Here doctors English is patchy, prescribe unnecessary meds, minimal info, don't really want to discuss

[email protected]

I have skin cancer which was successful removed by Dr. Anna Jaruwan.

Doctors only get better with age because they are constantly accumulating knowledge.

Don’t forcibly retire Dr Anna because of age. It’s a shortsighted rule and discriminates against elder who are at their best.

CJ Hinke (Canadian)