Best Medical Care?

[Mai Krap]

I have had good experiences at both Udon and Khon Kaen but was wondering what others thought? I know there is a MRI in Udon but is there one in Khon Kaen? The University Hospital in Khon Kaen is considered the best hospital in Isan but I have no personal experience in dealing with them, anybody been there?

Does anyone have experience with Pediatricians in Khon Kaen? If so any comments would be appreciated.

[citizen33]

I have had good experiences at both Udon and Khon Kaen but was wondering what others thought? I know there is a MRI in Udon but is there one in Khon Kaen? The University Hospital in Khon Kaen is considered the best hospital in Isan but I have no personal experience in dealing with them, anybody been there?

Does anyone have experience with Pediatricians in Khon Kaen? If so any comments would be appreciated.

I don't have direct experience of these hospitals as a consumer, but asked a Thai academic friend in a position to know. He confirmed what we all tend to assume, which is that Srinakarin University Hospital is considered the best in Isaan. Both Srinakarin and the Khon Kaen Hospital (the provincial hospital) have MRI scanners. However, my friend made two further interesting points (a) that Thai people are not good at assessing the technical quality of clinical care and tend to respond more to surface factors such as polite treatment and minimal waiting, and (b ) that actually the quality of care for many routine or chronic conditions may well be better in hospitals that lack the cutting-edge technologies and expertise available in Srinakarin. He gave the impression that leading specialists may sometimes not want to spend too much time on routine cases. My friend believes that the best general paediatrics care in Khon Kaen is offered by the Mother and Child Centre near the Khon Kaen Hospital (Suun an-i-mai meah le dek). I'm not sure if I grasped the details fully, but I believe that this centre is quite separate from the provincial hospital, supported by a different division of the Ministry of Public Health. It is a large round building on the corner near a junction which comes off the main road running past the Khon Kaen Hospital. Advanced paediatrics facilities are available at Srinakarin, which has a Department of Paediatrics within the Faculty of Medicine. Interestingly Khon Kaen is important as the main training centre for Lao physicians wishing to develop specialist expertise in paediatrics under a project run by Health Frontiers. It has much more critical mass in this field than Udon.

[Sam125]

I am moving to the town of Bua Yai next week and my wife will be having a baby in January. I will check out the local private hospital in person, but I was wondering how far we will need to go if there are any complications anticipated in the birth such as a c section and to have a specialist available for administering the needle in the spine (I forget the process name..).

We are an hour and a half by train from Khorat and not to far from Khoen Ken by train although I am not sure exactly how far.

All help and advice will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

David

[Mai Krap]

I have had good experiences at both Udon and Khon Kaen but was wondering what others thought? I know there is a MRI in Udon but is there one in Khon Kaen? The University Hospital in Khon Kaen is considered the best hospital in Isan but I have no personal experience in dealing with them, anybody been there?

Does anyone have experience with Pediatricians in Khon Kaen? If so any comments would be appreciated.

I don't have direct experience of these hospitals as a consumer, but asked a Thai academic friend in a position to know. He confirmed what we all tend to assume, which is that Srinakarin University Hospital is considered the best in Isaan. Both Srinakarin and the Khon Kaen Hospital (the provincial hospital) have MRI scanners. However, my friend made two further interesting points (a) that Thai people are not good at assessing the technical quality of clinical care and tend to respond more to surface factors such as polite treatment and minimal waiting, and (b ) that actually the quality of care for many routine or chronic conditions may well be better in hospitals that lack the cutting-edge technologies and expertise available in Srinakarin. He gave the impression that leading specialists may sometimes not want to spend too much time on routine cases. My friend believes that the best general paediatrics care in Khon Kaen is offered by the Mother and Child Centre near the Khon Kaen Hospital (Suun an-i-mai meah le dek). I'm not sure if I grasped the details fully, but I believe that this centre is quite separate from the provincial hospital, supported by a different division of the Ministry of Public Health. It is a large round building on the corner near a junction which comes off the main road running past the Khon Kaen Hospital. Advanced paediatrics facilities are available at Srinakarin, which has a Department of Paediatrics within the Faculty of Medicine. Interestingly Khon Kaen is important as the main training centre for Lao physicians wishing to develop specialist expertise in paediatrics under a project run by Health Frontiers. It has much more critical mass in this field than Udon.

Great post and Thanks. Are you sure there are 2 MRI machines in KK, if so which hospitals. I was told the only one was in Udon at the military hospital.

I went to the military hospital in Udon yesterday and found the Doctor to speak very good English and was very satisfied with my dealings with them. I had a blood test done and it took less than 30 minutes and he gave me a computer print out of the results, the blood test cost 90 baht.

I understand most Lao Doctors are actually trained in Vietnam, they may have a specialist program here. Most of the Lao VIPs go to Aek in Udon, the parking lot is always filled with Lao tagged vehicles.

Thanks again for posting about this, ones health is often overlooked here by the expat community.

[citizen33]

My informant told me that both Srinakarin and the Khon Kaen Hospital (ie. the provincial hospital) have MRI scanners, but I don't know first hand. Ideally we need somebody who works in one of these institutions to confirm this. However, the following article suggests that this is indeed the case for Srinakarin.

http://www.medassocthai.org/journal/index....&selids=107

Intuitively it seems implausible that the main NE university medical school (which ranks in the top 3 medical schools in Thailand) does not have one, while the Udon military hospital does, but this is Thailand.

I think you are right about Vietnamese assistance with medical training, but this may be very limited in many specialist areas. Being a little more precise, the Department of Paediatrics at KKU is "an affiliate center for Laos Pediatric Residency Training Program which is a National University Cooperation between the Faculty of Medical Sciences, LPDR , Case Western Reserve University , USA and Khon Kaen University" (taken from KKU Prospectus).

http://gs.kku.ac.th/international/prospectus/medicine.pdf

[citizen33]

P.S. Felt guilty about repeating hearsay without independent verification, but here is confirmation (in Thai) that KKU (Srinakarin) has MRI.

http://ortho.md.kku.ac.th/index.php?option...14&Itemid=1

The question prompted me to check how many MRI scanners Thailand has. The latest MoPH Thailand Health Report from 2004 says 31, 20 in the BMA and 11 in the provinces. More are in the private sector than in the public sector. I don't know whether 'private' would include places like Prajaksilapakom RTA hospital in Udon.

[Mai Krap]

Citizen33, Thanks for more good information. Weirdly enough I was on the train one night with the engineer for one of the major brands of MRI machines and he is in charge of 11 machines in Thailand, one of those is the one in Udon. Needless to say he is somewhat of a brainy guy and we hit it off becoming fast friends and I can count on a call from him weekly just to say hi. I asked him and he said he didn't have any MRI in KK but I'm sure that there are more than one manufacturer here selling them.

As far as the one in Udon, I was just over there and asked a couple questions. Apparently it is 8,000 baht for a brain scan but I'm not sure about any other prices. They are all set up for dealing with other hospitals by having a loading ramp dedicated to the MRI like an emergency room and it is right up front with a private entrance. The Thai Military unlike many Armies is also a business, who knows how they got the machine but its now for rent to the general public.

I really appreciated the great outpatient care I received at the Army hospital recently, it was timely and professional even though they were quite busy. As far as I know they have the best lab in Udon and its open 24 hour a day unlike many who close down at 6pm and keep only normal hours to cut down on costs.

The greatest point I can make about using any Doctor in Thailand is stick with people who can consult in English quite well, Avoid the type who tend to cover up their lack of English by saying yes over and over. I had one of those and he never even looked at my chart then prescribed a new prescription of antibiotics when I was already maxed out on another, no telling what damage it would have done if I had not caught it. I was told to just not go to him anymore like that was a proper solution, I suspect hes had problems like this in the past since he was 60 plus years old. It would be laughable if it were not a premiere hospital and a potentially fatal mistake easily avoided by a glance into ones chart which was laying in front of the man.