Planing For Maternity Care In Thainakarin Hospital ,Bangna ,Bangkok

[frankindian]

Planing for Maternity Care in Thainakarin Hospital ,Bangna ,Bangkok

Hi everyone,We stay in Bangna ,bangkok and we are wondering whether we canlook at Thainakarin Hospital on Bangna trad road as a good option for Maternity care since it is located very close to our place ( 10 mins drive) and we can avoid the bangkok traffics should an emergency arise.

We have a few questions

1) is the hospital decent enough for us as expats to go for a delivery there ?

2) How expensive is a Normal delivery there ? and a C-section if the need arises ?

3) i have heard that they do have painless delivery schemes as well,how expensive it is and does it really help ?

4) We don;t speak Thai,so are the doctors and nurses good enough for us to communicate in English as some times small misunderstandings can be fatal

5)Overall are the doctors and nurses good enough to handle Normal as well as C-section delivery ?

6) Is there some sort of cheating going on there like insisting on going for a C-section when it may not be actually required, or insisting on over-stay when it is not actually required or some other bad experiences.Some hospitals are known for this to earn some extra bucks.

7) Any other alternative options on hospitals which are good and cost-effective.

We will be really grateful if our expat friends can guide us on this ,especially who have gone for delivering babies in Thainakarin hospital and even others who have had some experiences on this .This is our first baby and so we are a bit concerned.

[Heng]

I'd recommend Vejthani Hospital on Ladprao. Further away but the maternity ward and nursery probably have the best layout I've seen, and we've welcomed family members at just about all of the major private hospitals in Bangkok. Unless they've changed room numbers, recommend getting room 508 for your 2-3 night stay. It's directly opposite the nursery... as in you open the door to your room and your child is 2 meters away from you in a clean glass enclosed room, no blind spots, and you see what everyone is doing all the time. Plenty of hospitals put the nursery's on entirely different floors from where the mom and dad are staying.

[kannon99]

I do not recommend Thainakarin for much of anything, and definitely not for childbirth. Low English skills, over-medicating. Expensive for services provided.

I have been a doula (labor/birth assistant) for women birthing there and this hospital does NOT meet the UNICEF mother-friendly hospital standards AT ALL. Disrespectful of mother's wishes, undermining mother's breastfeeding, unnecessary testing for the baby. A lot of fear/scare-tactics used to make the parents comply to hospital's wishes.

Absolutely pushing for C-sections when not necessary.

Edited September 29, 2010 by kannon99

[frankindian]

I'd recommend Vejthani Hospital on Ladprao. Further away but the maternity ward and nursery probably have the best layout I've seen, and we've welcomed family members at just about all of the major private hospitals in Bangkok. Unless they've changed room numbers, recommend getting room 508 for your 2-3 night stay. It's directly opposite the nursery... as in you open the door to your room and your child is 2 meters away from you in a clean glass enclosed room, no blind spots, and you see what everyone is doing all the time. Plenty of hospitals put the nursery's on entirely different floors from where the mom and dad are staying.

Thanks ! I can imagine the beautiful experience . I think we can still try for that ,Wonder if they can send ambulances to bangna for transportation

And any idea about the costs of services like ambulances and the delivery costs.

Though my wife feels Lad prao may be a bit too far from Banga where we stay ,and we could easily have traffic nightmares on the way to the hospital.

Any other option which may be closer ?

[frankindian]

Thanks !

Any other suitable good options closer to bangna and the proabable maternity costs?

[bina]

Thanks !

Any other suitable good options closer to bangna and the proabable maternity costs?

unless this is a second birth, and your wife knows she will give birth very quickly, u dont need an ambulance. most women have pre warning of various symptoms way before they give birth, and u have plenty of time to get to a hospital. actually, most women get to hospitals and are too early, and have a long time to wait and walk around, or even are sent home to come back next day or when they feel things are progressing...

i think u should read up a bit, if there is a maternity birthing class for couples in your area (ask kannon... she would know) then go to one.

take a taxi one day during several different times (night time or early morning seems to be the favorite time for a woman to start going in to advanced labour) and time the arrival of the taxi, and the time u arrive at the hospital of your choice. see what the longetst time is and use that as a way of setting up your birthing schedule.

contrary to popular movies, most women do not give birth on the way to their hosptial unless they waited until the last minute, this is their fifth child and they ahve easy births or they live way out in the country and live very very far from any hospital.

bina

israel

[frankindian]

Thanks Bina !

Requesting all our friends to keep writing in ,that will realy help us to take a decision.

[hereata]

Hi! I went to Thainakarin last year to do my check-ups. As I'm high risk pregnancy, I had to do a C-Section. We found out last minute that the husband cannot accompany the wife during the surgery and thus we changed hospital back to BNH where I had my first child. If you don't speak Thai, I do not recommend Thainakarin as most of the staff there doesn't speak English. I would suggest you take a look at BNH.

[frankkiss]

Thanks for your advice !

[Archimedes]

You can also visit and have a look at Sikarin Hospital. Its located in Bang Na, Soi LA SALLE (Sukhumvit 105) close to Macro/Carefour in Sinikarin Road.

You can find their english website here.

Edited October 19, 2010 by Archimedes

[BkkMikey]

I do not recommend Thainakarin for much of anything, and definitely not for childbirth. Low English skills, over-medicating. Expensive for services provided.

I have been a doula (labor/birth assistant) for women birthing there and this hospital does NOT meet the UNICEF mother-friendly hospital standards AT ALL. Disrespectful of mother's wishes, undermining mother's breastfeeding, unnecessary testing for the baby. A lot of fear/scare-tactics used to make the parents comply to hospital's wishes.

Absolutely pushing for C-sections when not necessary.

Just reading this post and feel that I need to share my experience regarding Thainakarin Hospital.

My Thai wife and I used this hospital for maternity care and for delivery and I cannot relate to some of the other critical posts that I read here.

Firstly maternity care. This was our first child and I had no real idea as what to expect. Our doctor was Dr. Prayuth and on all our visits he took the time to listen, answer questions and

repeat most if not all what he said to my wife in Thai in fluent English to me. I did a lot of reading online and every monthly visit I came up with a new short list of questions all of which

were answered in a patient and professional way.

Then on a check-up visit two weeks before "due date" Dr. Prayuth advised us that our baby was on the way out and we stayed (checked in) to the hospital. The package that we choose was for a normal natural birth in a private room for two nights recovery. The costs (which could also be found on their website) were 38,000 THB. Delivery went very smooth. We checked in around 15:00 and later that

day at 18:40 our beautiful daughter was born. After a good night's sleep for my wife the nurses started to teach my wife the proper way to breastfeed and all nurses we met emphasized the benefits of breastfeeding. We were never at any moment pushed for a c-section. After two days we took out daughter home and till this day (she is 3 years old now) we still have our daughter's check-ups and vaccines there. The female children's doctor Dr. Nippapan is one of the most caring and friendly doctor's I have met in Thailand, hence the long waits whenever she is on duty.

I also visited this hospital for some other small injuries and was always helped fast and professorial. I am one of those patients who will second guess a doctor's diagnosis and on each occasion

I got a satisfying English spoken explanation.

I feel that this hospital has been a great choice and I recommend to disregard the comments above since they do NOT reflect my extended experience with this hospital. I have been BHN and Bumrungrad hospital in the past and feel that the comments of disrespectful , expensive costs and over medicating apply more to these hospitals.

[kannon99]

BKKMikey, I really appreciate hearing about your experiences with the hospital. BUT that was one good experience, quite lucky really. I've attended many births there and it was not like that.

Every OB and pediatrician is different, so it's good to interview a few and make sure the hospital's policies line up with want you want with a birth.

I do have a question about your experience. You said, "After a good night's sleep for my wife the nurses started to teach my wife the proper way to breastfeed and all nurses we met emphasized the benefits of breastfeeding". Does this mean that if your baby was born at 18:40, that your baby was not given an opportunity to go to the breast until the next morning? If so, this is againt the UNICEF standards. Babies should have immediate access to the breast for a minimum of the first hour of life. Thanks!