Charged For A Follow Up Appointment

[xandreu]

I'm from the UK so I'm not really used to paying to see a doctor and not quite sure how it works...

Basically I saw a doctor last week because I started getting spots on my body. He diagnosed it as folicalitus or something like that (a bacterial infection of the hair folicles) Anyway, he gave me some anti biotics and cream and said he wanted to see me again in 12 days. I'm now a week into the course of medicine and it's looking like it's clearing up nicely.

He charged 1000B for the consultation and along with other charges plus my medicine it came to 1700Baht. I'm just wondering, if it's all cleared up by the time my next appointment comes around, will he charge again for another consultation just to tell me what I already know (ie, it's all fine now) And if so, what would be the point? Am I better off just cancelling the appointment?

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I'm not used to private healthcare...

Thanks.

[Tywais]

First, 1000 for a consult seems high but I don't know where you are. In Chiang Mai it is usually 250-350 at the private hospital I go to. 2nd, any follow ups I needed were not charged including a surgical followup with suture removal. Just give the hospital a call and see if the followup will be charged.

[lopburi3]

In my experience follow-up visits are not normally charged unless additional treatment/medications are required. As said 1,000 baht is a huge fee - I pay 350 baht at Vejthani for dermatology visits.

[xandreu]

Thanks for the advice. Seems I've paid way over the odds but as I've never paid for treatment before I had no idea what the going rates were. I'll avoid that hospital and shop around in future.

[Sheryl]

Actually whether to charge for a follow up visit or not is at the doctor's discretion and they can charge you if they want to.

Normally if it is a really quick follow up they won't, but there is no guarantee. Calling the hospital won't help as it is up to the individual doctor (who should base it on, among other things, how much time the follow-up entails).

1000 per consultation is not at all unusual if in Bangkok and the doctor was a specialist trained abroad.