Health Care In Thailand Vs The West

[LaoPo]

Health care in Thailand vs the West

I don't know about your experiences but mine -in the West- are terrible.

WEST, my own country

* trying to make an appointment with my own 'house' doctor is a nightmare...it takes at least 2 days before I can have an appointment and one has to call before 12.00 o'clock or go to an 'area' phone system and try to reach another doctor. Waiting time at the doctor's is between 20 min to 1 hour or more.

* He has to subscribe/agree to see a specialist and some doctors are reluctant to do so (they make money with repeated visits of their patients...).

* if there is an urgency (after working hours) you have to call a centralized phone number and you can make an appointment with a doctor but only AFTER the girl/lady on the phone has decided that your complaint is urgent enough

* the crazy system is that the centralized doctor-outlets (all doctors are there in a circulation system after working hours, nights, weekends) are all in the hospital's areas.

* the crazy system, above, is that if one ( and I do that now) decide to go to the Emergency entrance of the Hospital, you're immediately helped; nurses come, doctors show up etc. and you are IN the system straight away.

* If you try to make an appointment with a specialist (after your house-doctor said it's ok) than the drama really starts; 4-6 weeks is 'normal' before you can show up...

* I made an appointment for colonoscopy: 6 weeks Sir.... (2 days before I was admitted urgently again into hospital so the colonoscopy couldn't take place; again: 6 weeks...); follow up AFTER the colonoscopy: 2 weeks before you can see the specialist to evaluate the outcome.

* health care is obligatory in my country and since 2 years there is a system that everybody pays, more or less, the same which is around € 100/month/PP or Baht 5.000/PP/month. Nevertheless there are quite a few people not able to afford that..

* the cost of spending 1 day/night in a hospital is around € 400/day or 20,000 Baht/day. (In Feb/March I spent 10 days in hospital; there you go )

BANGKOK

* Not my own experience but a friend's:

* 4 weeks ago:

* Bumrungrad: he walks into the reception to ask if his eyelids can be 'done' upper and lower, both eyes.

Long story short:

* He walked in at 10.00AM. He was enjoying Sushi at 09.00PM. Job done and very happy

* Costs: all in (including skin doctor) € 1,200.--

* Insurance back home pays for it.

What about you ?

LaoPo

[taxexile]

my thumb locked up

couldnt work , self employed so losing money.

earliest appt with uk nhs doctor 3 days later.

diagnosis ..... trigger thumb , you will need an injection into the joint.

thank you very much , can you do it now? , i really need to get back to work.

no , cant do it here , were not funded for those procedures. i'll refer you to the hospital.

right , shall i go there now ?

no i will have to write to them , you should get an appointment within 6 weeks.

later the same day , walked into a private hospital , saw a doctor within 30 minutes , injection 5 minutes later , thumb movement back to normal within 5 minutes.

cost 120 pounds uk.

same problem 2 years later in bangkok , walked into bumrungrad , saw doc and received injection within 30 minutes , cost 2000b.

needed a colonoscopy in the uk , 2 months wait then 2 weeks before being able to discuss results with doc.

no thanks.

private hospital , done the next day , all clear given immediately on waking up. 1500 pounds uk.

follow up colonoscopy done in thailand , done the morning after the consultation , results immediately , walked out of the hospital 3 hours later. cost about 400 pounds uk.

last may , after an hour of strenuous outdoor exercise had shortness of breath , chest pains and tingling down the left arm , lasted for 2 hours. walked into bangkok hospital cardiac dept the next morning.

within 1 hour i had had a consultation , a blood test , an ecg , an echocardiogram and an exercise stress test.

diagnosis , very healthy heart , probably heat stroke. cost 150 uk pounds. the symptoms have never recurred.

i have nothing but praise for the care at the good hospitals here , and have had full confidence in the doctors i have seen.

but if i was involved in an accident though and needed an ambulance and a&e trauma care , i would much rather be somewhere else than thailand .

i wouldnt like to be poor and in need of hospital care here in thailand either , nor the uk for that matter and have to rely on the nhs.

good medical insurance is essential these days , whatever it costs it will be money well spent should you ever need it.

drive a cheaper car , drink less beer and buy cheap shoes , but dont skimp on medical insurance.

[LaoPo]

So, concluding, your experiences are the same as in my country.

However, we don't have private hospitals in my country...

But if you're the Queen or one of the Princes and their wifes or one of the hundreds of kids they have now.... of course you're helped immediately...same-same if you're VERY high-so..

But, I even have medical doctors and specialists as friends....BUT...waiting lists my friend, waiting lists...

LaoPo

[taxexile]

However, we don't have private hospitals in my country

couldnt you go to a hospital in another eu country , or state , as they are now called ?

i believe even the nhs in britain is now obliged to export patients who are in need of treatment but stuck on the ar5e end of ridiculously long waiting lists to a country with a more efficient system for quicker treatment if they so wish.

[PeaceBlondie]

I am still rather surprised to hear that the much-praised public health systems in the UK and Europe fail so badly. My experiences in USA and Thailand differ greatly. Since 1961, I have been covered by US military hospital and clinical care, or Federal Employee Health Benefit Program, or both. The waiting time is never so long, except for certain specialists in non-urgent care.

My experiences are too numerous to list separately, but the US health system is quite possibly the world's finest, for those who can afford it. Yet even then, mysterious ailments such as bacterial infections confound the experts. And if you are in one of the many medically underserved states of the USA, good help is far away.

In Thailand, I have had excellent luck with the big govt. hospital in Chiang Mai, and even my ER experiences and my ambulance care were not bad (3 rides). Yet even some of the experts at Samitivej were stumped, and the folks in Hua Hin were clueless.

I would not live in the hinterlands after age 50. I am not sure anybody should at any age, if they can be near good medical care for themselves and their loved ones. My list of alternative places to live, if I leave Thailand, is defined by a short list of developing countries which put me a very short ride from their best comprehensive medical centers.

[Tammi]

BANGKOK

* Not my own experience but a friend's:

* 4 weeks ago:

* Bumrungrad: he walks into the reception to ask if his eyelids can be 'done' upper and lower, both eyes.

Long story short:

* He walked in at 10.00AM. He was enjoying Sushi at 09.00PM. Job done and very happy

* Costs: all in (including skin doctor) € 1,200.--

*Insurance back home pays for it.

LaoPo

Insurance "back home" will pay for cosmetic surgery? Are you sure? If you are sure, which Insurance Company?

[PhilHarries]

BANGKOK

* Not my own experience but a friend's:

* 4 weeks ago:

* Bumrungrad: he walks into the reception to ask if his eyelids can be 'done' upper and lower, both eyes.

Long story short:

* He walked in at 10.00AM. He was enjoying Sushi at 09.00PM. Job done and very happy

* Costs: all in (including skin doctor) € 1,200.--

*Insurance back home pays for it.

LaoPo

Insurance "back home" will pay for cosmetic surgery? Are you sure? If you are sure, which Insurance Company?

It depends on what the doctor writes as his diagnosis . I had a slight problem a while back which my insurance would not have covered so the doc just treated it (no admittance necessary) and wrote down a similar condition that was covered.

[Crushdepth]

I think access to health care in Bangkok is brilliant. I can walk in off the street and see a specialist in most cases for $20. In Australia it can easily take 3 months to get in to see a specialist and a bill of $300-$400+ is not that unusual just to talk to the bastard for 15 minutes.

Having said that, health care in rural Thailand or even in the smaller hospitals in Bangkok is pretty scary (quality wise).

[LaoPo]

BANGKOK

* Not my own experience but a friend's:

* 4 weeks ago:

* Bumrungrad: he walks into the reception to ask if his eyelids can be 'done' upper and lower, both eyes.

Long story short:

* He walked in at 10.00AM. He was enjoying Sushi at 09.00PM. Job done and very happy

* Costs: all in (including skin doctor) € 1,200.--

*Insurance back home pays for it.

LaoPo

Insurance "back home" will pay for cosmetic surgery? Are you sure? If you are sure, which Insurance Company?

I'll ask him when I see him later today.

LaoPo

[garro]

I worked as a nurse in the NHS and would say that Thailand is much better staffed then the UK. I left the NHS about seven years ago, and at the time staff morale was very low as nurses were overstretched and under-supported. I heard that this has improved recently.

A big difference between Thailand and the UK, or Ireland to a lesser degree, is the amount of respect given to health professionals. A nurse is actually the most likely professional to be assaulted, in the UK, while doing their job - even higher than a police officer. I think it would be very rare in Thailand that a health care professional would be used as a punch-bag. Happy staff are productive staff.

[LaoPo]

I am still rather surprised to hear that the much-praised public health systems in the UK and Europe fail so badly.

I don't know if one can call it 'failing'.

The quality of the health care itself is good to very good. It's either a shortage on specialists/doctors/nurses or too many patients. There is no equal balance and thus the system sucks, yes. But failing badly is a bit too harsh I think.

The odd thing is that some people 'know' now that if you want help (urgent or not), just walk into the emergency entrance of a hospital and you will be looked after immediately with first class help.

Odd, strange, weird....yes.

LaoPo

[Tammi]

NHS in UK started going down in about 1970 when it was decided that senior nurses should do more admin work. I well remember a nurse, asking for advice about a patient from an assistant matron, being told by the asst. matron that she - the asst matron - had to first deal with a piece of paper in her hand.

I have heard recently that the UK NHS has recognised the errors of its ways.

[donna]

a few years ago i was med evac'd out of bali with suspected dengue. my platelets dropped to 29 and there was a worry that i would need a transfusion, so they sent me to perth for treatment.

i arrived in perth with a doctor and had an ambulance waiting. i had to get myself out of the wheelchair and into the ambulance with no help from them (the ambos didnt get out of the car until i was right upon them - after approaching from the front in an empty airport - there was no chance that they didnt see me coming).

was in the back of the ambulance and was being quizzed about my condition. some of the questions were not easy for me as i was becoming quite delirious so i asked if they could ask the doctor with me but they assumed that the doctor was a complete idiot as she was indonesian.

went to A&E in royal perth hospital where there was a fight between some people in the treatment area.

was told that my blood would be checked. i asked that the doc take it from my left arm as i have a good vein there. 'no worries, i will try your right arm as thats the side im on'. the doc pulled the rubber thing so hard it broke. used a rubber glove to bind my arm. didnt work. 'oh, i think i will try the other arm now'. duuuhh. idiot.

sent for x-rays and told them that i was too weak to stand up for the x-ray. 'just hang on to these bars'. i did and fell over - nearly passed out. well that annoyed the radiographer as they wasted one slide.

finally admitted but put in the 'holding pen' until some blood tests came through. rude doctor came up and said 'youre not THAT sick you know. i dont know why they sent you here'. (felt pretty crook from my end, i can tell you). asked for water (was severely dehydrated) and told to wait.

was wheeled up into a ward of 4 people. just about to be plugged in to the wall when someone ran in and said 'you cant put her here, she needs to be in isolation' (yessss).

was in the shower (no assistance) during my stay and buzzed the buzzer as i was unable to manouvre the silly gown over my drip. waited 10 min so managed to do it myself. 2 hrs later, some orderly comes in and said 'oh, your buzzer has been buzzing for ages but youre ok'.

discharged with 2 hrs notice.

traveled back to melbourne and went to my own gp who was lovely. he stayed open late especially for me as the doc in perth had told him i was coming back.

sent me to see an infectious diseases bloke but needed 6 weeks lead time if i made the appointment myself. doc made it and the wait time was 'only' two weeks.

THAILAND STORY

6 weeks after the above story i was in sangkhlaburi when i got the same symptoms again.

went to hospital in sangklhaburi where i had a fever of 41 under the arm.

sent me straight to kanchanaburi where i was diagnosed with vivax malaria within 20 minutes.

admitted to hospital in private ward within 30 minutes.

next day arranged a transfer to bkk by ambulance. this was arranged within two hours.

arrived in bumrungrad where they were expecting me and admitted within an hour.

[PIBkk]

If you compare your situation as citizen visiting the government hospital in your own country on social health insurance with being a Thai citizen doing the same, you would see that the long wait and the various nuisance are much cheaper than in Thailand. Bamrungrad, Bangkok General Hospital, Samitivej and other private hospitals operate for profit to please its paying customers, including expats. Only last week, there's a story of a private hospital in Thailand turning away a pregnant on a publicly-funded health program (the 30 baht scheme) who later died after her uterus busted at home (well, decrepit, construction work camp, that is) On a lighter note, earlier this week, a boy got circumcised without his or his parent's knowing. He was not there for circumcision.

[Sheryl]

PeaceBlondie beat me to it...indeed, care in the government system in Thailand (which is where the majority of Thais get their care) is replete with at least as much delay and buearcracy as that described for theit western equivalents.

[katana]

I am still rather surprised to hear that the much-praised public health systems in the UK and Europe fail so badly...

In the UK, if you have a serious accident like a motorbike crash with broken bones the NHS will treat you straight away. However if your ailment is non-life threatening and requires elective surgery, then they put you on a long waiting list. Can be 3 months or more and you can be left waiting in pain. People often give up at this point and go private and the system is arguably set up to force you to do this. The funny thing is you often end up seeing the same doctors privately that you saw on the NHS.

[Gary A]

In the US it depends on which hospital you use. I had an emergency and was taken to a very good hospital. The next day I was told that my insurance company would only cover an emergency there and I had to be taken to another hospital for further treatment. The second hospital was one that I wouldn't have taken my dog to. Absolutely pathetic care. A good friend of mine is a RN and she was appalled by how I was taken care of. She actually suggested that I sue them. I was just happy to be released and to be able to get out of there.

I had appendicitis in Loei and went to the private Loei Ram hospital. I was apprehensive about an upcountry hospital but found the care to be excellent. Much better than even the good US hospital, especially the nurses. My private room had a large sofa and my wife stayed with me for the several days I was there.