Fertility Clinic

[AJARNJACK]

Does anyone have any experience with a hospital or clinic in Thailand that does fertility procedures? I had a vasectomy almost 20 yrs. ago and my new wife would like to have a baby. I don't care to have the vessel reattached and only would like semen withdrawn and fertilize my wife with it. We live in the USA, but are planning to visit Thailand next year for a couple months. The medical costs here are very expensive and not covered under any insurance, so we thought of having the procedure done while in Thailand.

Everyone has an opinion about Thai hospitals and I'd just like to weed out the places that have bad reputations.

Thanks for your time.

[BuddhistDruid]

Essentially every hospital has a fertility clinic, and at any of the major hospitals I'm sure you will do just fine. I would not be afraid to go to any of them, however I will give you 2 recommendations.

If you are going to be up in the Chiang Mai area at all, and have a desire to save a few thousand dollars vs. what the private Bangkok hospitals will charge, I can highly recommend Kullapat Medical Clinic in Chiang Mai. The doctors are actually all part of Chiang Mai university which is where most of the fertility research is done in Thailand. You can view them at kullapat.com. Prices for various procedures are even on the website. All the doctors speak fluent English, and they have many farang couples that go there. We got pregnant there. Twins due around end of July. Drove 7 hours each way from Bangkok many times over several weeks to use their service. They were that good.

If you are not planning on heading up north and would rather stay in Bangkok, then I would recommend Jetanin (jetanin.com). They are probably the biggest in Bangkok. Much more expensive that Kullapat, but a very good reputation. Most of the Thai celebrities go here, so you can often see some famous faces hanging around. If Jetanin does not have the equipment or can not perform the procedure you want, then nobody in Thailand can do it. We've also gone here and were very satisfied, but decided not to continue due to the cost.

Neither facility will have a problem with your vasectomy. The surgery to retrieve your sperm is a standard procedure over here. Painful, but standard.

Do be aware that both of these places operate as Thai style clinics. Slightly different from what you would expect in the US. That means they will tell you to come on a specific day but, unless you are going for a procedure at the hospital where a strict appointment will be given, they will not give you a specific time. You simply show up during the hours they are open, and get a place in the queue. The doctor will see patients in the order they arrived, first come, first served. It is actually much more efficient from the doctor's perspective than an appointment system. And even in the US you wind up waiting 30 minutes to see the doctor, so it really isn't that much more inefficient from the patient's perspective. Thais simply expect this, but I thought I should give you a heads up since the custom might seem strange to an American.

Let us know what you decide to do, and should you get a pregnancy, make sure to report back to the group and tell us your experiences.