Preterm Delivery - Bangkok Hospitals

[Monkey Fish]

Hello,

My wife is at a bit over 27 weeks and experienced significant contractions recently. We rushed to our hospital where she was given terbutaline and the contractions stopped. She's been fine since then, but the episode has us considering whether our hospital would be the best if she does deliver so early. We live in Samut Sakhon and have been going to Nakornthon Hospital on Rama II, which we've been happy with, but I hadn't been judging it in terms of whether they would offer a significantly-preterm baby the best chance of survival.

If anybody has thoughts or experiences they would like to share on the topic, especially with regard to how satisfied you were with your doctor and hospital, I would be very thankful to hear them.

Thank you.

[bumrungrad]

Hello,

Is your wife Thai? If so, I will have to let other give their opinions, but if you do decide to come to Bumrungrad, I can get you to the right place to look at the packages. There are two listed on this page, one for delivery, one for vaccines. Unfortunately, I don't have them translated into English yet:

(edit: she does not have to be Thai to receive the package rate, but will have to read Thai to understand)

http://www.bumrungrad.com/thailand-hospita...cakge/list.aspx

The delivery one will link to a page which has additional links to pricing, etc. (edit#2: if neither of you can read Thai, send me a message and I can see what I can get you in English.)

Here is general information link on our Women's Center (which was just renovated this month):

http://www.bumrungrad.com/thailand-expat/m...n-s-center.aspx

Any questions, please feel free to ask.

Edited March 17, 2010 by bumrungrad

[kannon99]

If you are to have a preemie, remember that breastmilk and kangaroo care are very very important for development. Samitivej Sukhumvit is superior in both of these areas and will work to make sure that the baby is given mother's milk as soon as possible. Sorry, but Bumrungrad, in my opinion, falls short of these most 2 basic things.

[gregb]

I have been investigating similar requirements.

I will just say that if you have unlimited income, then both of the Hospitals mentioned above, and several others, can provide excellent care. Unfortunately, when I calculated that I needed approximately 30,000 baht per day for their NICU services, I realized that I simply do not have the financial means to take advantage of them. You may be in a better position than I however.

Assuming you need something more reasonable priced, what I have discovered is that if you want the best care for a VLBW or ELBW child, (Very Low Birth Weight/Extremely Low Birth Weight) your best option on a budget is a government hospital colocated with a university. Siriraj is also extremely good and provides excellent care at reasonable rates. Of course, English might be a bit of a problem if your wife doesn't speak good Thai.

You'll be happy to know that at 27 weeks, most Thai government/university hospitals with an NICU offer a good chance of survival if antenatal steroids have been provided, and the odds go up with every week that delivery can be delayed. By the time your baby is 1kg, the odds of survival at a government university hospital are well over 80% and in line with what can be achieved in most private hospitals and most developed countries. So it is not necessary to sell yourself into slavery in order to obtain quality medical care here in Thailand.

Of course, if you do have the means, I would not discount a private hospital that can provide more personalized care and make your trials more comfortable.

For me however, that is not an option. My twins are just passing 20 weeks and counting. Wish me luck and I'll offer you the same.

[Monkey Fish]

Thank you all for the information and advice. We do hear good things about Samitivej on this forum, but the location could be a problem for us, and we'd have to sell one of our other kids to pay for it. We're almost to 28 weeks, and according to the last sonogram, just over 1000 grams, so we should have some options.

Gregb - thank you for the very informative post. Could you tell us where you found the statistical information about Thai hospitals? Best wishes for you and your family. I hope your research has been merely precautionary.

[Monkey Fish]

I just found gregb's topic on this same issue.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Hospital-Rec...sk-t325607.html