My thai wife's mom is in the hospital with terminal cancer and she is using her 30 baht health card up country. I heard that the medication is additional but not sure how much it would be discounted. I received a phone call that the 'farang' should pay and this is probably the worst month for me financially for this to happen. Is there any one that would have any idea how much this may would cost per day for a Thai with this health card? She doesn't look like she is going to make it and suddenly this phone call about the costs was thrown at me tonight.

Does anyone have any idea what is included or what to expect from an average hospital and the bill when this card is used ? Thank you very much.

All included.

All standard medicine is included in the scheme. If they recieve medicine not on the scheme or not recommended by the doctor...ie he does not think it is needed or will work you pay.

It's my understanding that meds are included.

If, as you say, it sounds teminal, offer to put her in a private room to make her last days more comfortable.

Having said all that, getting a "Farang should pay" phone call would immidiately put my back up.

Let's try this in the Health Forum.

Everything is included in the 30 baht scheme, but and it`s a big BUT:

If more expensive drugs, or treatment is required than what is covered by the hospital’s budget under the 30 baht scheme, the hospital will not provide them; they have to be purchased separately.

Also if a patient requires the use of specialised equipment and needs to be transferred to a hospital with better facilities, this too may not be covered under the scheme.

If the patient is a terminal case, then it has to be at the discretion of the family whether to ensure the person receives the best treatment during the last remaining stages of their life, or to try and make the person as comfortable as possible with the health care available under the 30 baht scheme.

This is something no one can advise you on, phillies. Has to be personal between the family and yourself.

6 years ago my girlfriend’s elderly father became very frail. Sometime after he was diagnosed with throat cancer. He was admitted into hospital on the 30 baht scheme. The worst part of it was, that he was completely compos mentis at the time, fully aware of everything that was going on around him, his situation and so on.

He knew his days were numbered and that no matter what sort of treatment he would receive, that there was no hope.

The father in law wanted an end to his suffering and it was heartbreaking for us and the family to have to watch him suffer in this way. I was asked the same thing; would I pay for him to be transferred to a more suitable private hospital? Had a good think about it and decided, no, why prolong his suffering?

When he died, although of course no one wants to see their father die, it actually came as a sort of relief, both for him and for us. Finally he was at peace and that was acceptable to everybody.

But this was my decision and judgment of the situation and as I said, only you can decide what is best in your case.

I go along with 'Beetlejuice'. My daughter suffered from regular ear infections and received treatment under the 30 Baht scheme. The doctors told us they could only give her the strongest medicine that is supplied to them. Unfortunately that didn't clear up the infection. We were told that there was a stronger medication but we'd have to buy it ourselves. The doctor gave us the name of it and we bought it from a private pharmacy. It worked. Plus our daughter needed a vaccine to prevent recurrence of the infection which wasn't covered by the 30 Baht scheme. Again we paid for that.

So posters who claim that all medication/treatment is free under the 30 Baht scheme.are not speaking truthfully.

This is just one anecdote but a relative of ours (one of the poor cousins) had his appendix removed at Banglamung Hospital. Treatment started out on the 30 Baht plan but in the end, the hospital hit him with the bill for all expenses after the point where he upgraded to a private room (that is, you apparently can't just upgrade the room... at least in his case... you basically upgrade your whole stay all included after the point of upgrading). A relatively small bill of 32,000 but probably a large amount for a lot of folks using these gov't hospitals.