Choosing A Hospital For Wife To Give Birth

[TonySoprano]

I am interested primarily in reputation and costs. We went to our first appointment at Ekamai Sukhumwit Hospital and the doctor we saw left alot to be desired. He was fairly old and apparently does not do deliveries anymore but he was about as cold to my wife and myself as imaginable: he barely made eye contact with us the entire time, did not speak a single word in english to me the entire time, did not say hello or greet either of us, made a couple of strange comments to my wife about Thai people having dark skin, my wife asked him about flying while pregnant and he said "do whatever you want", he did not schedule any furthor appointments, etc, overall a pretty disheartening experience for first time parents. i have no idea with this type of emotionlessness is standard for thai doctors or not but i (and especially my wife) would like someone who atleast feins human emotions.

do you recommend any particular doctors?

We are considering Ekamai Sukhumwit, Samitivej, and Bumrugrad and perhaps other hospitals near sukhuwmit road/thong lo areas. we would like to get an idea of total cost all-ins for a C-Section. i picked up a pamplet in ekami hopsital but it was clear there were a ton of "extras" not yet accounted for in the quoted price.

[yeti]

A few of us already posted about this doctor in Sukumvit hospital, seems he has not changed a lot since my wife and I went to see him.

Bumrungrad and Samitivej both have delivery packages, price probably available on their website (otherwise they can send the brochure by email), substancially more expensive than Sukumvit hospital. Packages available only if your wife doesn't present any special condition (high blood pressure, low placenta, things like that mean that you cannot use the package and have to pay full price). Those packages are only for the delivery, and don't cover all the visits during pregnancy.

We ended up using Vichaiyut hospital, easy to access by tollway, doctors speak English (but not nurses), but their ultrasound equipment is not as good as Samitivej.

[pop_corn]

I'm in Samitivej Hospital with Dr Thewin Dejthevaporn, which I picked up after reviewing many Dr's at BNH, Bangkok Hospital, etc.. his English is good, he have a international tittle, and specialist in the fetus. So far, so good!

[Neeranam]

Had one in Bamrungrad and one in a Govt. hospital. The latter was a much better one. Bamrungrad only care about money.

[coventry]

Why not choose your wife's local goverment hospital ? It's free bar the cost of private room and the cost of the doctor to do a C Section. That alone is a ridiculous 1500 Baht(joke). Private room 600-1000 Baht per night. My wife cannot understand why Thai women go private when having a baby other than to show that they have wealth. I have the resources to pay for a private hospital but my wife refuses to pay. We have a 16 month old daughter and she was born in a government hospital. My wife is currently pregnant with twins, to be born in 2-3 weeks, once again, government hospital. Just because you pay private, doesn't mean you get a better doctor. All private doctors once worked at a government hospital at some time or other, so I'm told.

Save the money for the child and go government.

[mhan77]

Went to BNH with the misses and the doctor prescribed 'special' vitamins. I asked why they were so special, his response was the vitamins had special radicals??? what alarmed me was the high dosage of vitamin A per pill.. Walked out and never returned. A number of 'affluent' Thai mothers suggested I take the misses to Bumrungrad because all had great experiences there, I have yet to test the waters.

[yeti]

From my experience the major drawback of government hospitals in Bkk is the long wait before seeing your doctor (and you have many appointments during a pregnancy).

[bkkjames]

I am in two minds on this, as your family you want the best for them but then I think that 64 million thais have been born here with 99.9 percent not at BGH, Bum or Samit, I wonder if its worth double the cost?

Anyways, we have decided (and she is happy with it) Rama 9 Hospital.

[Orac]

My wife had a baby girl last week at the local government hospital up here near Nong Khai and I have nothing but praise for the service/level of care. It was not an issue of money as I am quite able to pay for the best of private care available however my wife chose the local hospital as she wanted to be near her family. If you are looking for a more private affair without family and friends I would suggest you put some distance between yourself and yr wifes family - I counted 22 family and friends there for the birth and for the three days in hospital afterwards it was a constant stream.

Costs were Bt.3010.00 medical costs and Bt.1300 per night for a private suite - I must say the public wards were terrible with beds crammed together and beds also in all the corridors and open areas.

[coventry]

From my experience the major drawback of government hospitals in Bkk is the long wait before seeing your doctor (and you have many appointments during a pregnancy).

You don't use the government hospital for anything other than the birth itself. The woman goes to the doctors private surgery for her monthly checks. If the baby is to be born C Section the doctor makes the arrangements with the hospital as to the day you go in. If the baby comes premature the hospital peps the woman whilst contacting the doctor and await his arrival.

The doctor is allocated a daily time window in which he can use the surgery and the woman is prep'd according to his operating times. No unnecessary waiting, in fact very well organised. I have to agree with the poster who pointed out the use of a public ward. Avoid them. Only to be used in an emergancey, in my opinion.

[yogi]

have you checked in BNH hospital?

[TonySoprano]

Do public hospitals really offer everything that private hospitals do? Is the price really just about name recognition? The staff is not better trained? Not higher safety standards?

[InSiSongkram]

We had our daughter in Bumrungrad and I have to say they were awesome ok they are a little on the expensive side but the hospital itself is just great and we were treated very well also after care is good not a bad word to say about our experience.

[TonySoprano]

From my experience the major drawback of government hospitals in Bkk is the long wait before seeing your doctor (and you have many appointments during a pregnancy).

You don't use the government hospital for anything other than the birth itself. The woman goes to the doctors private surgery for her monthly checks. If the baby is to be born C Section the doctor makes the arrangements with the hospital as to the day you go in. If the baby comes premature the hospital peps the woman whilst contacting the doctor and await his arrival.

The doctor is allocated a daily time window in which he can use the surgery and the woman is prep'd according to his operating times. No unnecessary waiting, in fact very well organised. I have to agree with the poster who pointed out the use of a public ward. Avoid them. Only to be used in an emergancey, in my opinion.

so you go to his local clinic and only to the hospital for the pregnancy itself? does he rent the hospital space he uses to deliver the baby? I never heard of this type of arrangement before.

[Boo]

That seems to be the set up for agreed c-section but for natural birth there would be no way of knowing what day the labour would start or for how long so not sure that the governement hospital route Coventry mentioned would work for a vaginal birth.?

[coventry]

That seems to be the set up for agreed c-section but for natural birth there would be no way of knowing what day the labour would start or for how long so not sure that the governement hospital route Coventry mentioned would work for a vaginal birth.?

Yes you are right in that it is a set up for a C Section, but they do do natural births as well. You decide. For us we conceived through IVF and the doctor recommended the C Section because of that reason. Plus it depends on how he sees the baby's position as the time nears

For our twins it will be C Section as well due to their size. They are, as of last week, 500 grams each overweight compared to the average weight for twins at 34 weeks. Average delivery for twins is the 37th week.

[coventry]

From my experience the major drawback of government hospitals in Bkk is the long wait before seeing your doctor (and you have many appointments during a pregnancy).

You don't use the government hospital for anything other than the birth itself. The woman goes to the doctors private surgery for her monthly checks. If the baby is to be born C Section the doctor makes the arrangements with the hospital as to the day you go in. If the baby comes premature the hospital peps the woman whilst contacting the doctor and await his arrival.

The doctor is allocated a daily time window in which he can use the surgery and the woman is prep'd according to his operating times. No unnecessary waiting, in fact very well organised. I have to agree with the poster who pointed out the use of a public ward. Avoid them. Only to be used in an emergancey, in my opinion.

so you go to his local clinic and only to the hospital for the pregnancy itself? does he rent the hospital space he uses to deliver the baby? I never heard of this type of arrangement before.

Yes you just go along to his private surgery have the monthly scan and pay your money, average 290 Bahts per visit/scan. Iron tablets etc, if recommended, cost practically nothing. Of course the private doctor doesn't pay the hospital, he works there. His private practice is just a fast track system he uses to earn extra cash. I live out in rural Buriram Province and most doctors from the government hospitals work this way, so I understand. I don't want to generalise and say all government doctors work like this but I'd be surprised if they didn't. Edited March 24, 2009 by coventry

[ernest1966]

I'm in chumphae, and yes the goverment doctor has his own clinic. Went to see him a couple of times. Spoke english, nice enough guy but his hands shook. Thing was his reputation was bad, we found out. So went to private hospital in KK, csection, 4 nights in bed, i stayed in room as well, food, doc fees, room fees etc 50k baht.

Just to put it into perspective and mate had his son n a hospital in istanbul and paid 7000ytl (bout 2-2.5k depending on fx rate), so i paid 50kbaht, i am happy because of the peace of mind.

E

[Bpraim1]

We used Central general hospital in Suphan Mai area, AAA+ Doctor was fluent in english, Wife had Csection as she was just to small to get that boy out of. All in all we paid 28,000bt. Private room food, blah blah blah. They even through in a huge care package and photo's and foot impressions of our son.

We will be going back to this hospital with our second kid in May.

All problems I thought I would have with Question to the doc and hospital staff were gone in seconds.

[Sheryl]

From my experience the major drawback of government hospitals in Bkk is the long wait before seeing your doctor (and you have many appointments during a pregnancy).

Another disadvantage is that it is often not possible for husband to be in the delivery room.

But the medical quality of care, as long as it is a provincial level hospital on up, is fine.

Feedback I've gotten on Samitivej has been overwhelmingly positive but they are, of course, high end price-wise. If that is a concenr,have also had some very positive feedback on St Louis Hiospital, a private but nonprofit, see this thread

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Giving-Birth...livery+hospital

and see also this gthread for some other recommendations;

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Pregnancy-De...livery+hospital

Re Bumrungrad, feedback on the medical aspects has been positive but a number of posters have reported problems with a lot of add-on charges to the package price. Some add-ons may occur prettyu much everywhere but these cases described up to double the expected cost...

[Chalky]

I am interested primarily in reputation and costs. We went to our first appointment at Ekamai Sukhumwit Hospital and the doctor we saw left alot to be desired. He was fairly old and apparently does not do deliveries anymore but he was about as cold to my wife and myself as imaginable: he barely made eye contact with us the entire time, did not speak a single word in english to me the entire time, did not say hello or greet either of us, made a couple of strange comments to my wife about Thai people having dark skin, my wife asked him about flying while pregnant and he said "do whatever you want", he did not schedule any furthor appointments, etc, overall a pretty disheartening experience for first time parents. i have no idea with this type of emotionlessness is standard for thai doctors or not but i (and especially my wife) would like someone who atleast feins human emotions.

do you recommend any particular doctors?

We are considering Ekamai Sukhumwit, Samitivej, and Bumrugrad and perhaps other hospitals near sukhuwmit road/thong lo areas. we would like to get an idea of total cost all-ins for a C-Section. i picked up a pamplet in ekami hopsital but it was clear there were a ton of "extras" not yet accounted for in the quoted price.

We had ours in Ramkamhaeng hospital and 90% of the experience was brilliant.

Despite being promised to be allowed to be present at the delivery (C section), our Dr was overruled by the hospital administrator for insurance purposes - despite our Dr going into bat for us for an hour holding up the birth and thatre time! So that's minus 8%.

The other 2% embuggerance was the add-ons: paid 28k up front for a package which explicitly included C section but ended up paying 46.5k including a 5% discount for a first birth! Would have been 54k if missus cousin hadn't been there to take us home (high ranking BiB!).

Otherwise, super Dr (dig his name out if you like) lovely hospital, nice rooms, good staff, birth ceritificate with your name in English (roman script) and free baby feet impression/photo frame and a lot of the nursing staff and porters tried very hard to speak English to me (although you might want to keep you eyes on some of the dispensary nurses, delayed some medicine and nearly gave too much of another but that's probably more due to my bossy nature!).

A couple of friends also heartily recommend Phra Ram 9 as brilliant in all departments.

Best of luck to you all.

"Chalky"

[coventry]

but ended up paying 46.5k including a 5% discount for a first birth!

Congratulations Chalky. The problem for me is as to why farangs allow their wives to go to a private hospital ? If she'd been married to 'Thai Joe Bloggs' she'd have used the government one and paid about 3,500 Baht all in, possibly a little more depending on location. Or a little less come to that.

[coventry]

From my experience the major drawback of government hospitals in Bkk is the long wait before seeing your doctor (and you have many appointments during a pregnancy).

Another disadvantage is that it is often not possible for husband to be in the delivery room.

It's not an advantage to go private either as Chalky will varify. Money doesn't buy you a ring side seat.

It doesn't matter whether government or private. I see no difference other than the cost. The end result is the same.

[lopburi3]

I'm in chumphae, and yes the goverment doctor has his own clinic. Went to see him a couple of times. Spoke english, nice enough guy but his hands shook. Thing was his reputation was bad, we found out. So went to private hospital in KK, csection, 4 nights in bed, i stayed in room as well, food, doc fees, room fees etc 50k baht.

Just to put it into perspective and mate had his son n a hospital in istanbul and paid 7000ytl (bout 2-2.5k depending on fx rate), so i paid 50kbaht, i am happy because of the peace of mind.

E

Have one experience of taking a monk to see doctor in private clinic in Chumphae across the street from largest hotel and a bit west toward the traffic light. His wife also there as reception and believe she was also a doctor at hospital. He was recommended by people who live in province and both had worked at the Government hospital many years (although not from that area). He actually did make blood tests and got them processed at Hospital in about an hour. The monk survived so guess he got it right.

[MJo]

Some prices i been quoted couple of months ago.

BNH:

1. Natural Birth Package (NBP) : 33,900 THB.( 3 days 2 nights)

2. NBP + Pain less (Spinal Block) : 39,900 THB.( 3 days 2 nights)

3. Caesarean Section Package ( CSP) : 49,900 THB.( 4 days 3 nights)

Bumrungrad

2. NBP + Pain less (Spinal Block) : 54,900 THB.( 3 days 2 nights)

Natural without block was around 10k less and C-Section around 10k more.

Samitivej

1. Natural Birth Package (NBP) : 55,000 THB.( 3 days 2 nights)

2. NBP + Pain less (Spinal Block) : 70,000 THB.( 3 days 2 nights)

All are basickly the same, long list what is included and what is not but should cover the basics. Anything out of normal will cost more.

I keep hearing good things regarding BNH from my friends but we are with Bumrungrad as the missus likes the doctor. I would go to BNH but she likes it in Bumrungrad and with the particular doctor so Bumrungrad it is. Also i have to say that i'm happy with the doc as well. He seems to know what he's doing and keeps me up to date as well and speaks better english than i do.

Many people give also good comments on Bumrungrad but also lot of negative feedback on their admin side and how things work with packages and payments etc.

They did try to play us as well, in every opportunity they gave adds on their packages but when i actually said i want to take the package the game was on. First they could not confirm as they needed the doctor to confirm if we "qualify". Then they give me pricing that if the package can not be done the same natural with epidural would be anything between 75k to 150k.

Complained to their admin / customer service and same song, need to check with the doctor. At that point the doc had already told us to go ahead and that there is no medical reason for the package.

After last appointment the doctor told us just to ask the nurses to do the paperwork and pay small deposit for the package. Obviously she did not want to bother with the papers and told us "have to check with the doctor next time". This point i told her that if the package with them is not cleared in next 5 minutes were off to BNH. Somehow higher ranking registered nurse was called and it took them 2 minutes to enter it in their system...

So clearly they are playing the waiting game, giving you info on normally priced packages and delay the actual confirmation as long as possible and beyond the point when you actually believe them when they tell you it's too late to change doctor / hospital and try to charge you 150k for the same delivery.

Yeah i know, i been keeping it cool and biting my lip only coz she likes and feels confortable with the doc...

For questions why not to go to government hospital i would say that is not that much status thing for thais after all. In our case it's out of convenience mostly. Bumrungrad is the closest hospital to get to and you have quite a few appointments during the 9 months. Also i dont mind paying the few hundred dollars extra for the privilige not having to spend an hour in traffic just to reach the hospital. What comes to the level of care i feel government hospitals do the basic job same as any private ones. Difference is on the rooms, facilities and price.

3 weeks or so to go, we will go natural + epidural. C-section as plan B if it does not work out as it should.

[kerr17]

I had my first daughter at Bumrungrad 2 weeks ago and i was more then happy with the service.

Dr. Nopadol is simply a great doctor, nurses and especially nursery staff were amazing, I had a free upgrade on my package to the deluxe room as they were fullly booked and top service thorought.

Pedetritian is also great so far.

I couldn't ask for more and i would certainly have my second child in there.

No adds on at all on my bill.

[jack31]

Well my mrs had our first baby at the Rumpaet Hospital in Surin. The doctor was great, he spoke fluent english was friendly towards me and overall I though he did a terrific job with the C Section. The cost for the private room, food, doctors fees and of course the tip he asked for before we agreed to use him was 33kTHB

She had a private room which I thought was nice and clean, it was spacious and fairly quiet and the nurses were ok. I was even allowed to stay for free in the room with her. The food though was dire...very very bad even the mrs could not eat it and she eats anything.

Now my Mrs is pregnant again and has now decided that she want to give birth in a government hospital in Prasat. She has visited the hospital a few times this year and is convinced its much cleaner than the private hospital she stayed at in Surin. I have told her either way I am happy its her call. She is a tight ass mind you so she is probably doing it to save the 33kTHB.

Hope this helps

[bkkjames]

The Mrs just delivered our little one C-section a week ago at Rama 9.

Overall, give it a rating of 9 out of 10.

4 day 3 night package including everything came to 59,000 Baht. Staff were professional, courteous. Hospital was spotless, full of conveniences for expecting fathers and visiting family.

Would definately go back should we have the need.

Interesting to see those prices above for Sam, Bum and BGH, not anything like I was quoted when I checked with them.

Funny kinda, but the Mrs father said that when she was born it cost 1,200 Baht!

Edited May 18, 2009 by bkkjames

[maichai40]

We had our daughter in Bumrungrad and I have to say they were awesome ok they are a little on the expensive side but the hospital itself is just great and we were treated very well also after care is good not a bad word to say about our experience.

I am in Phuket. When we discovered my wife was pregnant with the pharmacy test, we went to the Gov. hospital (Vachira) to make the blood test just to be 100% sure. After a very very long wait, the doctor spoke to her, gave me a bad look and asked why we didn't go to a private clinic to do that (you stay with farang = you are rich), and when she knew she didn't make an HIV test before getting pregnant she got angry (you stay with farang = you are a prostitute). My wife took my outside of the room before i exploded.

After that, of course, we went to the private clinic. That's our experience with Gov. hospitals even though i think we were just not lucky.

[MJo]

The Mrs just delivered our little one C-section a week ago at Rama 9.

Overall, give it a rating of 9 out of 10.

4 day 3 night package including everything came to 59,000 Baht. Staff were professional, courteous. Hospital was spotless, full of conveniences for expecting fathers and visiting family.

Would definately go back should we have the need.

Interesting to see those prices above for Sam, Bum and BGH, not anything like I was quoted when I checked with them.

Funny kinda, but the Mrs father said that when she was born it cost 1,200 Baht!

Congrats !

Ours is now 6 weeks

Started as vaginal but end up in a C-Section in Bumrungrad. Their prices are now more than those above that were quoted to us last year. Vaginal with spinal block is now 54,900 and C-Section was 64,900. All in price that i paid was 70,000 and that included extras like birth certicate translations and MFA stamps, some of my food from room service, drinks from minibar and daily bangkok post delivered to the room etc etc.

However it took some effort to get them to confirm we "qualify" to the package. Clever marketing, they pull you in with the package, then try to delay their committment as i believe below prices are what they charge if you just show up for the delivery without confirming the package.

Below is direct extract from their email, after this i still had to fight a bit for them to confirm it in their system and get deposit paid.

Please note that we have been informed from Dr. XXXX, OB/GYN (Women) that Mrs. XXXX can use our delivery package.

However, it is recommended that you dicuss with doctor during appointment about the most suitable one.

Regarding inquiry, in case you are not a candidate for delivery package, please see below for estimation.

- Normal Labor ~ 84,000-100,500 Baht** with 3 days hospitalization.

- Normal Labor with Epidural block ~ 94,500-157,500 Baht** with 3 days hospitalization.

- Caesarian section ~ 136,500-157,500 Baht** with 4 days hospitalization.

**These prices are for planning purposes only to assist the patient in understanding the possible range of costs. Actual estimates for care cannot be accurately provided until the patient has been examined by the BH physician. The cost ranges provided are based upon our best understanding of the patient's condition at the time of contact and do not represent a minimum or maximum potential cost.

Note: Prices are subject to change without notice.

Special Promotion for Year 2009

For patients who cannot use the package due to health concerns, we offer special discount (30% for admission room and 10% for medicine).

All payments including the deposit must be made by credit card or cash.

Cannot use with other promotions, insurance claims, or sending bills to contract company.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

So i was quite happy with the 70k bill. First class service including free phone support from nurses still few days after we got back home.