Bangkok Samui Hospital

[jeztennis]

Recently had to go to Bankok Samui Hospital with very bad kidney pains. the service was excellent etc etc and the doctor prescribed me 4 different pills and told me to come back the next day and if i was feeling ok they would just send me away and if i wasnt they would change the medication. went the next day, explained to the nurse and receptionist that i was ok but they ferried me into another room. explained again, also that i have no medical insurance and no money (the second one being a small white lie but i could understand what was happening) kept explaining no insurance no money but was asked to do a urine test, was then ushered into a specialists office who without even examining me said that they needed to do a prostrate exam and a CT scan. at this point i thought enough is enough and told them in no uncertain terms that i felt this was totally unecessary and i didnt have any money or insurance, bit of arm flapping on their behalf then it was ok no problem goodbye. so the warning is this, if it is a minor medical problem go to the happy pharmacy near the guest house on soi reggae. the girl there has always been great and very knowledgeable

one other point i was charged 1700 baht for pills and my regular pharmacist has told me that two sets of pills are not required as they do the same thing as the other two and i could have bought them from her for 300 baht

the only reason i went to the hospital was because i was in agony, perhaps i should have got someone to drop me off at the pharmacy instead, we live and learn.

by the way this was my first ever experience of hospital in thailand and i have lived here for two years, whilst the service was excellent and the hospital very clean i feel that they cannot justify these extra diagnosies and exorbitant charges for medication

[Boater]

if you do not have insurance or short of cash, go to Nathon Hospital, as they are not there to make money but to treat you....

[NHJ]

a urine check is 300 bath at the thai inter hospital and is done in around 30 minutes with a microscope.

i used their service only once and for this matter.

[samui04]

a urine check is 300 bath at the thai inter hospital and is done in around 30 minutes with a microscope.

i used their service only once and for this matter.

Thai intl hospital is the place to go for minor problems, they always tend to over-prescribe but they are honest and fast.

If broken bones or trauma after bad accident only place is BKK Hospital, only one with TAC and doctors, prepare to pay all the money they ask...

[MSingh]

A Freind of mine took his 2 year old Son to BH last night only ot be told there was no Doctors & no one could see to his Son until this morning, he then took him to Thai Inter where they diagnosed the Boy with Dengue Fever !!!!!!!!!

[Nirvana]

A Freind of mine took his 2 year old Son to BH last night only ot be told there was no Doctors & no one could see to his Son until this morning, he then took him to Thai Inter where they diagnosed the Boy with Dengue Fever !!!!!!!!!

Can say that same thing has happened. Delayed and the said you have to stay overnight to see a doctor.Not good

[Samuian]

if you do not have insurance or short of cash, go to Nathon Hospital, as they are not there to make money but to treat you....

I second that!

Simple, but NO rip off, because it's NOT a private enterprise or a shareholders company!

For that so far, as what I have heard Ban Don supposed to have the worst reputation of them all!

If any condition is worrying you, go and see a DOCTOR, not just a pharmacy for a couple of pills, how can a pharmacist know, with out an examination, what is exactly wrong with you?

I is adviseable, to find out which Doc'/Hospital has a good reputation BEFORE an emergency hit's you!

If good/full cover insurance - Bangkok Samui Hospital seems to be a good deal!

[PoorSucker]

Recently had to go to Bankok Samui Hospital with very bad kidney pains. the service was excellent etc etc and the doctor prescribed me 4 different pills and told me to come back the next day and if i was feeling ok they would just send me away and if i wasnt they would change the medication. went the next day, explained to the nurse and receptionist that i was ok but they ferried me into another room. explained again, also that i have no medical insurance and no money (the second one being a small white lie but i could understand what was happening) kept explaining no insurance no money but was asked to do a urine test, was then ushered into a specialists office who without even examining me said that they needed to do a prostrate exam and a CT scan. at this point i thought enough is enough and told them in no uncertain terms that i felt this was totally unecessary and i didnt have any money or insurance, bit of arm flapping on their behalf then it was ok no problem goodbye. so the warning is this, if it is a minor medical problem go to the happy pharmacy near the guest house on soi reggae. the girl there has always been great and very knowledgeable

one other point i was charged 1700 baht for pills and my regular pharmacist has told me that two sets of pills are not required as they do the same thing as the other two and i could have bought them from her for 300 baht

the only reason i went to the hospital was because i was in agony, perhaps i should have got someone to drop me off at the pharmacy instead, we live and learn.

by the way this was my first ever experience of hospital in thailand and i have lived here for two years, whilst the service was excellent and the hospital very clean i feel that they cannot justify these extra diagnosies and exorbitant charges for medication

no medical insurance and no money = CT scan

[southwest19]

Recently had to go to Bankok Samui Hospital with very bad kidney pains. the service was excellent etc etc and the doctor prescribed me 4 different pills and told me to come back the next day and if i was feeling ok they would just send me away and if i wasnt they would change the medication. went the next day, explained to the nurse and receptionist that i was ok but they ferried me into another room. explained again, also that i have no medical insurance and no money (the second one being a small white lie but i could understand what was happening) kept explaining no insurance no money but was asked to do a urine test, was then ushered into a specialists office who without even examining me said that they needed to do a prostrate exam and a CT scan. at this point i thought enough is enough and told them in no uncertain terms that i felt this was totally unecessary and i didnt have any money or insurance, bit of arm flapping on their behalf then it was ok no problem goodbye. so the warning is this, if it is a minor medical problem go to the happy pharmacy near the guest house on soi reggae. the girl there has always been great and very knowledgeable

one other point i was charged 1700 baht for pills and my regular pharmacist has told me that two sets of pills are not required as they do the same thing as the other two and i could have bought them from her for 300 baht

the only reason i went to the hospital was because i was in agony, perhaps i should have got someone to drop me off at the pharmacy instead, we live and learn.

by the way this was my first ever experience of hospital in thailand and i have lived here for two years, whilst the service was excellent and the hospital very clean i feel that they cannot justify these extra diagnosies and exorbitant charges for medication

Rather than moaning about Bangkok Hospital why don't you buy yourself decent medical insurance.

[Nirvana]

Recently had to go to Bankok Samui Hospital with very bad kidney pains. the service was excellent etc etc and the doctor prescribed me 4 different pills and told me to come back the next day and if i was feeling ok they would just send me away and if i wasnt they would change the medication. went the next day, explained to the nurse and receptionist that i was ok but they ferried me into another room. explained again, also that i have no medical insurance and no money (the second one being a small white lie but i could understand what was happening) kept explaining no insurance no money but was asked to do a urine test, was then ushered into a specialists office who without even examining me said that they needed to do a prostrate exam and a CT scan. at this point i thought enough is enough and told them in no uncertain terms that i felt this was totally unecessary and i didnt have any money or insurance, bit of arm flapping on their behalf then it was ok no problem goodbye. so the warning is this, if it is a minor medical problem go to the happy pharmacy near the guest house on soi reggae. the girl there has always been great and very knowledgeable

one other point i was charged 1700 baht for pills and my regular pharmacist has told me that two sets of pills are not required as they do the same thing as the other two and i could have bought them from her for 300 baht

the only reason i went to the hospital was because i was in agony, perhaps i should have got someone to drop me off at the pharmacy instead, we live and learn.

by the way this was my first ever experience of hospital in thailand and i have lived here for two years, whilst the service was excellent and the hospital very clean i feel that they cannot justify these extra diagnosies and exorbitant charges for medication

Rather than moaning about Bangkok Hospital why don't you buy yourself decent medical insurance.

Can understand your comment, but my point is rather for a hospital so well equiped and on two occasions had to go there , they said no doctor available until next morning. Insurance or not that does not really help you when you are real sick and then have to go to another hospital..

[churchill]

I would have thought that Bangkok Hospital would always have a doctor on emergancy call in case of an emergancy . If they don't I'd be very surprised - They have an intensive care unit and many patients so they must have qualified dorctors to hand if needs be .

[Jambo]

From previous experiences, i would NOT recommend Bandon Hospital to anyone.

Samui International Hospital and Thai International Hospital are OK price and servicewise, but anything major and it has to be Bangkok Hospital.

Prepare to pay big money if you dont have insurance though.

My friend has just had to pay over 500,000 baht for a head injury that his insurance wouldn't cover.

Edited December 11, 2008 by Jambo

[happylarry]

Not only do B.H. always have a Doctor on duty but they also have Doctors living in the accomodation there, who can be called in an emergency. Maybe they meant that they didnt have a Pediatric specialist available???

HL

[highdiver]

i agree with the above posts

if you get to a stage where you kidneys are very painful you should have it examined by a doctor and if there is a specialist even better. i think that BH is very good and every tiem i used the services they were very professional and the service was very high standard. and if you have a medical insurance then its better as the insurance covers it.

[thaierless]

i agree with the above posts

if you get to a stage where you kidneys are very painful you should have it examined by a doctor and if there is a specialist even better. i think that BH is very good and every tiem i used the services they were very professional and the service was very high standard. and if you have a medical insurance then its better as the insurance covers it.

yep...and if you pay peanuts...you get monkeys! this is your body, health and life man!!

[MSingh]

I would have thought that Bangkok Hospital would always have a doctor on emergancy call in case of an emergancy . If they don't I'd be very surprised - They have an intensive care unit and many patients so they must have qualified dorctors to hand if needs be .

Or would the costings of having to stay the night & see the Doctor the next morning, have anyuthing to do with it ??

[OnTheSnap]

It's the job of the professionals at a hospital to figure out what's wrong with you- sometimes that takes expensive tests- your lack of insurance shouldn't compromise their thoroughness

If it had turned out that they let you go without at least making an attempt to properly diagnose you and you had a serious or life-threatening problem, you probably would have posted complaining about it.

[Nirvana]

I would have thought that Bangkok Hospital would always have a doctor on emergancy call in case of an emergancy . If they don't I'd be very surprised - They have an intensive care unit and many patients so they must have qualified dorctors to hand if needs be .

Or would the costings of having to stay the night & see the Doctor the next morning, have anyuthing to do with it ??

Indeed Msingh.I have full cover insurance so it was not an issue of money, but my thoughts exactly. Who wants to wait till morning anyhow. I am seldom surprised these days.

[South]

B100,000/day ICU for me a few years ago, changed hospitals and B45,000/2 weeks. Bangkok Samui are BS imho. If you want nice big plasma TVs on the waiting room walls and manicured gardens etc then it's worth it. For me, good medical care is all I am after and no rip offs. BS also charged me B9,000 for some guy to literally hold my little finger and put it back into joint, a process that lasted all of around 5 seconds.

Rip off merchants.

[southwest19]

B100,000/day ICU for me a few years ago, changed hospitals and B45,000/2 weeks. Bangkok Samui are BS imho. If you want nice big plasma TVs on the waiting room walls and manicured gardens etc then it's worth it. For me, good medical care is all I am after and no rip offs. BS also charged me B9,000 for some guy to literally hold my little finger and put it back into joint, a process that lasted all of around 5 seconds.

Rip off merchants.

I personally think Bangkok Hospital are a welcome addition to the island, earlier this year I needed an operation and had to stay there for a few days. The care and treatment was first class as good as I have had anywhere and the bill was settled by my medical insurer directly with the hospital.

I really do not understand how foreigners come to Thailand without medical insurance and then complain about the cost of hospitals and being ripped off blah blah blah. It seems to me that some people place having UBC, beer etc above the importance of having adequate medical cover.

If you are over 18 and have chosen not to bother with insurance then the only person to blame is yourself.

[Mark Wolfe]

jeztennis:

Recently had to go to Bankok Samui Hospital with very bad kidney pains. ... was asked to do a urine test, was then ushered into a specialists office who without even examining me said that they needed to do a prostrate exam and a CT scan. at this point i thought enough is enough and told them in no uncertain terms that i felt this was totally unecessary ...

... if it is a minor medical problem go to the happy pharmacy ...

...the only reason i went to the hospital was because i was in agony, perhaps i should have got someone to drop me off at the pharmacy instead, we live and learn.

I'm a little confused here. You go to the hospital because you were "in agony," and presumably thought that this "very bad kidney pains" required hospital treatment. So the next day they want to do an additional test, which you -- with no medical training -- announce "in no uncertain terms that i felt this was totally unecessary (sic)."

Then you lament in your post that the problem you suffered was "minor," and you say that you should have had someone take you to a pharmacy instead.

Therefore, being in "agony" and suffering from "very bad kidney pains," is a minor problem and one that you should just go to some pharmacy on Soi Reggae Pub. So what is your threshold for actually needing to go to a hospital (aside from visible injuries)? Since agony isn't painful enough to warrant a hospital visit, what word should be used? I mean agony is pretty high on the painful index as far as describing your problem. What does qualify?

I can think of many plausible reasons that this specialist wanted to do additional tests, and I am not a doctor of medicine. I also find your logic for not wanting more tests odd. Instead of sitting down with the people and asking why the CT scan was advised and what they were looking for and so on, you bleat "no insurance, no money (which you admitted was a fabrication)." What if there is/was something more seriously wrong with you that was being hidden by the medicine you received the first day? Remember, you only could have taken the medication for 24 hours, at the most, probably less. If the staff at the hospital wanted to do more tests in spite of the fact that you kept hammering home the allegation that you couldn't/wouldn't pay them, doesn't that make you think that they actually wanted to help you? Would not the natural reaction (the one you hoped to elicit) be for them to immediately give up the idea of additional treatment since they might not be paid for it?

I don't think this thread is about the way the hospital conducts its business (or a forum for the bandwagonists against Samui hospitals in general); I think this is about the cavalier attitude of someone who feels confident in second-guessing professional medical staff.

[Nirvana]

I don't think this thread is about the way the hospital conducts its business (or a forum for the bandwagonists against Samui hospitals in general); I think this is about the cavalier attitude of someone who feels confident in second-guessing professional medical staff.

Speak for yourself, maybe people just merely mention their experiences. I am not a "bandwagonista" and just post an experience which others have also done and shared. Yes the OP may have a reckless attitude to healthcare, but this was not the case for other posters imho

[UmpaLumpa]

go to a restaurant, say you are really really hungry and want to eat, but have no money to pay.

see if can get a better answer this time!

[OriginalPoster]

...then ushered into a specialists office who without even examining me said that they needed to do a prostrate exam and a CT scan. at this point i thought enough is enough and told them in no uncertain terms that i felt this was totally unecessary and...

Just out of curiousity, how much did they want for the CT scan? That is a test that sometimes private practices will over-prescribe if they own the equipment themselves because the equipment is really expensive and if they don't do a lot of scans they can never recoup the cost of the equipment, but sometimes it's a test that can eliminate the need for exploratory surgery or that can give a surgeon insight into what he's going to encounter if it's a forgone conclusion that he's going to need to go in. If I were you, I wouldn' just storm out of there in a huff assuming that they were trying to rip me off, I'd get a second opinion from another doctor who has no business relationship to the first. Just as a point of comparison, I had a CT scan of my shoulder done at First Presbyterian Hospital in New York City earlier this year and it cost $253. It cost me $35 for parking while I was inside the hospital have the test done. It seemed like a good investment at the time.

Edited December 12, 2008 by OriginalPoster

[mattias33]

For kidney problems i was told a year ago in samui inter that they need BOTH urin test AND ct-scan to be sure. Actually if the urintest shows blood in the urin they can be sure already, but the ct-scan can show nothing and still there is a problem. I found this out since i as usuall couldnt "piss on order" and it was a must to do urin test since ct-scan showed nothing.

My oppinions about Bkk-hospital i leave out for this time. Lets just say i as usuall dont agree with highdiver and as usuall i think he is speaking with very limited experience. .

[highdiver]

For kidney problems i was told a year ago in samui inter that they need BOTH urin test AND ct-scan to be sure. Actually if the urintest shows blood in the urin they can be sure already, but the ct-scan can show nothing and still there is a problem. I found this out since i as usuall couldnt "piss on order" and it was a must to do urin test since ct-scan showed nothing.

My oppinions about Bkk-hospital i leave out for this time. Lets just say i as usuall dont agree with highdiver and as usuall i think he is speaking with very limited experience. .

so i am to blame because you cant piss..

you have no idea about medicine as well or you know whats going to happen next...

the next stage is your prostate gland test... i will be willing to pay to see this ... you bending over and the doctor probing you up your A...s

please on the contrary to your other posts do share with us this experience... :D

[mattias33]

For kidney problems i was told a year ago in samui inter that they need BOTH urin test AND ct-scan to be sure. Actually if the urintest shows blood in the urin they can be sure already, but the ct-scan can show nothing and still there is a problem. I found this out since i as usuall couldnt "piss on order" and it was a must to do urin test since ct-scan showed nothing.

My oppinions about Bkk-hospital i leave out for this time. Lets just say i as usuall dont agree with highdiver and as usuall i think he is speaking with very limited experience. .

so i am to blame because you cant piss..

you have no idea about medicine as well or you know whats going to happen next...

the next stage is your prostate gland test... i will be willing to pay to see this ... you bending over and the doctor probing you up your A...s

please on the contrary to your other posts do share with us this experience...

This was a year ago and i was able to back for the urin test (no kidney stones, just infection in the stomach solved with medication in 3 days.).

Thanks for your concern but my prostate is fine. I done 20 of tose "tumb in the ass"-tests when i took green cards for nuclear. Not very pleasent, but not really much of a deal. Done in 2 minuites.

I´m not a doctor, never claimd so. "no idea of medecine"?? What does that mean? Im just posting what happened to me. Did the doctors lie?

I mst say i never heard of a guy before that is an expert on exactly every subject that comes up. And everybody else dont know what they talk about. You must be quite annoying for people around you. What an attitude you got Hd!

Edited December 15, 2008 by mattias33

[mark lamai]

slightly on topic.

just a way to save a few baht.

went to Samui International Hospital with sore eye (dirt in eye while on moto).

presented bill was 1660 baht.

medication in that was 740 baht, not itemised.

I asked to see the medication, and copied the names.

went back to accounts and said i didnt want the medication.

new bill prepared with only 1 medication listed at 100 baht,

this new med was not in the original group, strange.

paid and went to my favourite pharmacy,

the same medications there cost me 140 baht.

[mattias33]

slightly on topic.

just a way to save a few baht.

went to Samui International Hospital with sore eye (dirt in eye while on moto).

presented bill was 1660 baht.

medication in that was 740 baht, not itemised.

I asked to see the medication, and copied the names.

went back to accounts and said i didnt want the medication.

new bill prepared with only 1 medication listed at 100 baht,

this new med was not in the original group, strange.

paid and went to my favourite pharmacy,

the same medications there cost me 140 baht.

Total agreement, NEVER buy the meds in the hospital over here. Go to a pharmacy and ask for "generic" of whatever they prescribe for you.

Just out of curiosity mark: How did you copy the paper? Where you cool enough (or they stupid enough) to use their copymachine or did you carry a digitalcamera? .

Smart move.

[churchill]

Pen?