Healthcare Entitlements Or Costs For Cancer Treatment In Thailand For Thai People Or Their Husbands

[Miranda2112]

Would be grateful for any info on the above topic.

Specifically, if the husband of a Thai national would be entitled to any cancer treatment or if he had to go private how would he estimate the cost of treatment?

[Sheryl]

Assuming the husband is not a Thai national or permanent resident, he has no entitlement to free health care. However he is free to utilize the government hospitals on a fee basis, which will still be vastly less exopensive than a private hospital.

The cost is entirely dependent on the nature of the tretament required. What I can say is that definitely a government hospital or military hospital will cost far less than a private hospital, and among the private hospitals, the non profits will cost less than the for profits.

If you can indicate the type of cancer and where in Thailand you/the patient lives i can adviose more specifically on where best to go in the absence of health insurance.

[Miranda2112]

Assuming the husband is not a Thai national or permanent resident, he has no entitlement to free health care. However he is free to utilize the government hospitals on a fee basis, which will still be vastly less exopensive than a private hospital.

The cost is entirely dependent on the nature of the tretament required. What I can say is that definitely a government hospital or military hospital will cost far less than a private hospital, and among the private hospitals, the non profits will cost less than the for profits.

If you can indicate the type of cancer and where in Thailand you/the patient lives i can adviose more specifically on where best to go in the absence of health insurance. while still getting good quality of care.

Thank you for your reply. I now have more details.

The cancer is HODGKINS LYMPHOMA, Stage 2A. and they will be living near HAT YAI.

[Jowels]

The best government hospital in Hat Yai is Songklanagarind. http://hospital.psu.ac.th/

Although it's extremely busy, the standards of care are quite good. The hospital is part of the Prince of Songkla University and most of the senior doctors have studied overseas. My son had an operation there 3 years ago to remove a tumour (which turned out to be benign) and the staff couldn't have been more helpful.

[Miranda2112]

The best government hospital in Hat Yai is Songklanagarind. http://hospital.psu.ac.th/

Although it's extremely busy, the standards of care are quite good. The hospital is part of the Prince of Songkla University and most of the senior doctors have studied overseas. My son had an operation there 3 years ago to remove a tumour (which turned out to be benign) and the staff couldn't have been more helpful.

The difficulty is to get an estimate of costs before undergoing treatment. Am I right in assuming there is one cost for Thai nationals and another for non nationals?

[Sheryl]

The cost (as in price) is identical. Double tier pricing is common in private hospitals but not in public ones, there is only one price there. But the vast majority of Thais do nto have to pay it as they are covered under ine of the 3 schermes that comprise Thailand's system of universal health care.

Be aware that while quality is good, enormous red tape and long waits are entailed in using Thai publiuc hospitals (the red tape is worst at the onset, gets somewhat better once you are enrolled in a treatment program in a specialized clinic) and all of it is in Thai. Many doctors (and pretty well all of the senior ones) speak English but little English is spoken by the administrative and nursing staff. Almost impossible to navigate through this system without the help of a Thai speaker, and likely to be especially tough for someone who is new to the country.

What treatment will cost will depend very much on which drugs are used in chemotherapy. If they are drugs long in existance, they will usually be available in a Thai generic and not very costly. Should he need a newerr drug, it may cost more. The preferred regimen in the west is a combination of 4 drugs, doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine and darcarbacine. The first 2 are available in Thailand in locally made form. Vincristim=ne appears to be available only as an import and would thus be costly. Of much more concern, darcarbacine appears not to be available at all. If this is indeed the case it may not be possible to obtain the treatment which gives the best chance of survival. I would worry much more about this than about the financial cost, since it could cost your/his life.

Taking all of these factors into account, if the patient currently lives in a country where he has access to free or subsidzed care, I strongly advise receiving treatment there and deferring the move to Thailand until a full course of chemo has been completed.

As the diagnosis has already been made, has any chemo already been undergone or prescribed in the home country?

[lopburi3]

From family experience can say much cancer treatment can easily be too little and too late in the view of senior doctors in the public sector. The queue requirements are especially critical for any fast acting cancer treatment decisions. To some extent this can be shortened by obtaining tests outside free system or by paying (believe cash patients will get some priority in queue system - I know they used to). Public hospitals do charge, based on income, for those not covered. For most things the price is low but advanced testing, such are MRI, seems to be very close to private hospital rates in our experience some years ago. And wait can be too long.

[prodriver]

The cost (as in price) is identical. Double tier pricing is common in private hospitals but not in public ones, there is only one price there. But the vast majority of Thais do nto have to pay it as they are covered under ine of the 3 schermes that comprise Thailand's system of universal health care.

That's what I always believed until I had a PET scan at Siriraj earlier in the year.

40,000 baht for Thais.....60,000 baht for me!

[lopburi3]

That may have been part of the income level pricing and/or cash patient going to head of queue?

[prodriver]

"lopburi3" I've had ultrasound scans, ct scans, surgery, radiation treatment, blood tests, x-rays, hospital stays all at the same price level as a Thai would pay at Siriraj but for some reason the only thing that was duel priced was the PET scan I had there. I and my wife (Thai) queried this and couldn't get an explanation as to why this was. I suppose we didn't take the case high enough up the chain of command, so it still stays as a mystery to me. Certainly nothing to do with my income level and/or queue jumping.

[prodriver]

"lopburi3" I've had ultrasound scans, ct scans, surgery, radiation treatment, blood tests, x-rays, hospital stays all at the same price level as a Thai would pay at Siriraj but for some reason the only thing that was duel priced was the PET scan I had there.

duel priced?? sounds like a price war I, of course meant dual priced.