Fed up with the medical services here.

[MegaRanter]

I thought it's only nigerian doctors that fire off injection at every sickness.

My Thai partner does nt have a great deal of trust in African doctors, he makes them write down every medication, dosage, goes home and ask google and Wikipedia to concur.

In Thailand she usually kra' everything,

[Sheryl]

If you are spending the money to go to a "top" private hospital, for heavens sake take advantage of the option of choosing your doctor and take the time to choose carefully. IMO that is the main advantage.

The quality of care you can in the same hospital varies enormously depending on the doctor chosen.

Or as others have said, save your money and get free care for the child at a government hospital. HOWEVER, govt hospital will not give unnecessary injections and the like...so you'll need to convince your gf first. Her mistaken ideas as to what constitutes "good" care i at least part of the problem here.

[dogpoo]

If you are spending the money to go to a "top" private hospital, for heavens sake take advantage of the option of choosing your doctor and take the time to choose carefully. IMO that is the main advantage.

The quality of care you can in the same hospital varies enormously depending on the doctor chosen.

Or as others have said, save your money and get free care for the child at a government hospital. HOWEVER, govt hospital will not give unnecessary injections and the like...so you'll need to convince your gf first. Her mistaken ideas as to what constitutes "good" care i at least part of the problem here.

That's easier said than done, how do we know who is good and not good, daughter was red hot, they were in with the doctor for about 1 minute, he said it was a cold and gave us 4 lots of tablets, some made the daughter very sick, clinic said medicine no good!!

[dogpoo]

You are supposed to be able to trust a doctor. I'm not going to stand there trying to decide what doctor to see, how do you find out who is good and who is not? In our case he was incompetent!

[jrtmedic]

Best stick to the brilliant "clinic" then !

[jrtmedic]

You should also tell other members the name and where to find this clinic.

It must be an impressive place and having a fully equipped Lab that tests immediately for dengue is a considerable asset.

Is it expensive ?

[GirlDrinkDrunk]

did the Dr. tell you what the pills were for?

All the pills are in Thai, tried to ask the gf but she doesn't know, gf is taking daughter to clinic and I assume his injection!

Don't forget that a Thai will never question the opinions or treatment of a doctor directly - too much disrespect for the Khun Mor. Hell they won't even tell their hairdresser that they're cocking up the style, they'd rather go to another hairdresser to get it fixed.

I always go when our daughter is sick so I can be the ignorant farang and ask all the obvious questions or seek clarification.

the mother of my child most certainly will

[dogpoo]

You should also tell other members the name and where to find this clinic.

It must be an impressive place and having a fully equipped Lab that tests immediately for dengue is a considerable asset.

Is it expensive ?

Yes this clinic has a laboratory, don't know what the cost was, I will post tomorrow as gf is asleep. the clinic is called Wattana international clinic in Patong, doctor, dentist,pharmacy,physical therapy,x-ray, vaccination,minor surgery.

[dogpoo]

Just looked on there web site and it does indeed look impressive!

[rubberduck]

Few years ago I had serious pain in my ass, went to RAM hospital in Chiangmai they performed an x-ray and yes, it was clear to them this was my old hip fracture. I told the doc I never had any hip fracture. 'OK but this is a hip fracture' he said. 'here you have some medicines this will help to cure it'.

Anyway the next day I had my advance booked holidayflight to Europe, big doubts should I cancel or go for it, but I left because I wanted to see to a Dutch doctor anyway, lost my trust in that idiot already. During half of the flight I could not sit anymore so much pain now) upon arrival rushed to a hospital, they did a quick scan and it appeared I had a dangerous abcess around the anus that was about to break open anytime, an urgent surgery was done the same night, had to stay 5 more weeks.

Chiangmai RAM hospitals many foreigners like it but by my experience (and not only mine!) there walking a bunch of totally irresponsible amateurs around who just give you or either an inconceivable smile or a plain lie if they don't know the answer. If they had simply said 'we are sorry but we don't know, but those sick culture of telling lies just to save their face, bloody idiots!

Edited July 30, 2013 by rubberduck

[manarak]

Health is one of the rare areas of life where it still pays off to be smart.

[jrtmedic]

I once had a bad experience in a Thai hospital. The problem was associated with one doctor.

I pursued the issue with some vigour !

All health care systems have good and not so good people working within them.

Do not make the assumption that one poor experience means everyone is bad.

It is just not true !

[jrtmedic]

Wattana international clinic

I do know the place! -----situated just off the beach road in Patong

Rumour suggests it is more expensive than the two major international hospitals on the island !

I know nothing about the quality of care available there but believe there are only two doctors available which would suggest it is a general practise service at best.

Edited July 30, 2013 by jrtmedic

[rubberduck]

Wattana international clinic

I do know the place! -----situated just off the beach road in Patong

Rumour suggests it is more expensive than the two major international hospitals on the island !

I know nothing about the quality of care available there but believe there are only two doctors available which would suggest it is a general practise service at best.

Wattana has also private hospitals in Udon, Nongkai and VIentiane and my experience, when I took a girlfriend with a nasty infection from Laos over the border to Udon are very good. It appeared quit 'western', open minded, modern and accurate.

While RAM Chiangmai has the bad habit of (illegally) demanding your passport in adavance and/or upon leaving follow you to the nearest ATM (idiots!), at Wattana they did not want any deposit in advance for the 35,000b operation.

Also, while at RAM Chiangmai you can see a pathetic atmosphere of strong hierarchy, doctors who look down upon nurses, nurses who look down upon the cleaningladies (the kindest of all) all that unprofessional bullshti, at Wattana I did not mention anything of this.

[jrtmedic]

Believe the group referred to are not affiliated with the Phuket (Patong) clinic.

[dogpoo]

Believe the group referred to are not affiliated with the Phuket (Patong) clinic.

I think if you have confidence in a place that is most if the battle, gf is confident with this Wattana clinic!!

[dogpoo]

Wattana international clinic

I do know the place! -----situated just off the beach road in Patong

Rumour suggests it is more expensive than the two major international hospitals on the island !

I know nothing about the quality of care available there but believe there are only two doctors available which would suggest it is a general practise service at best.

The cost for consultation, blood test and tablets was 1000฿ that is very good in my opinion!

[samuibeachcomber]

well you got it sorted 'dogpoo",that's the main thing.the days of trusting a dr.'s diagnosis are long gone,you have to ask the important questions if you doubt "the diagnosis"..............but thais are like we were back in the 1950's when a doctors advice was sacrosant.

[dogpoo]

well you got it sorted 'dogpoo",that's the main thing.the days of trusting a dr.'s diagnosis are long gone,you have to ask the important questions if you doubt "the diagnosis"..............but thais are like we were back in the 1950's when a doctors advice was sacrosant.

It's the worst situation to be in, not being able to trust these important people, one poster says you have to choose your doctor as some are good and some are bad, as a normal run of the mill person I would like to know how you go about this, do you ask the reception? do you ask other patients? I assume doctors have good and bad days so it's impossible to know who to go too, if you are paying premium prices you should expect premium doctors, this is not a country I want to stay in forever but whilst I'm here I expect some 21st century care and consideration!

[Wavefloater]

You'd thing with an epidemic ongoing, the first thing the docs would look to rule out would be Dengue.

Yes, we all fall into that trap of applying (Western) logic to Thai situations, but we have to keep in mind that Thai logic is 180 degrees opposed to ours -- seriously.

In your first post, you referred to the hospital as "one of Phuket's top private hospitals". But I think many of us are learning that there's no correlation between the prices charged at Thai hospitals and the actual quality of treatment. I've experienced the worst (and most potentially dangerous) treatment at BHP and Pattaya International (the two most expensive hospitals in Pattaya at that time). The lack of basic knowledge displayed by the "doctors" at these places was startling. I've received the best (although slowest) treatment at the government/navy hospital where my Social Security medical service is registered. When somebody advised you to just let the gf take the kid to a government hospital, I agree. You can always go to an expensive private one after that if you don't agree with the treatment/diagnosis received at the government one.

Anyway, hope the kid gets over her dengue fever soon and has a fairly gentle go with it. (It's my understanding that the severity of symptoms can vary greatly).

[dogpoo]

You'd thing with an epidemic ongoing, the first thing the docs would look to rule out would be Dengue.

Yes, we all fall into that trap of applying (Western) logic to Thai situations, but we have to keep in mind that Thai logic is 180 degrees opposed to ours -- seriously.

In your first post, you referred to the hospital as "one of Phuket's top private hospitals". But I think many of us are learning that there's no correlation between the prices charged at Thai hospitals and the actual quality of treatment. I've experienced the worst (and most potentially dangerous) treatment at BHP and Pattaya International (the two most expensive hospitals in Pattaya at that time). The lack of basic knowledge displayed by the "doctors" at these places was startling. I've received the best (although slowest) treatment at the government/navy hospital where my Social Security medical service is registered. When somebody advised you to just let the gf take the kid to a government hospital, I agree. You can always go to an expensive private one after that if you don't agree with the treatment/diagnosis received at the government one.

Anyway, hope the kid gets over her dengue fever soon and has a fairly gentle go with it. (It's my understanding that the severity of symptoms can vary greatly).

Daughter is not hot anymore but still has a cough, gf wants me to take her back to the clinic for an injection, what is it about these injections, what do they contain? how old is old when getting free healthcare for a child, gf says cannot take to government hospital because daughter is not Phuket person <deleted>!! it's like bashing your head against a brick wall!!

[JLCrab]

For years now I've been reading anecdotal horror stories on this Health Forum and on the Insurance Forum about how things work or don't work here in Thailand. While some incidents may be totally as presented by the ThaiVisa poster, I would like to hear the other side of the story from the hospital administrator, doctors, insurance claims people, etc. which you never do get to hear.

[dogpoo]

For years now I've been reading anecdotal horror stories on this Health Forum and on the Insurance Forum about how things work or don't work here in Thailand. While some incidents may be totally as presented by the ThaiVisa poster, I would like to hear the other side of the story from the hospital administrator, doctors, insurance claims people, etc. which you never do get to hear.

That would be good, don't think it will ever happen though, my op suggests to me that these people do not give a flying <deleted> and just want to sell as much useless medicine as possible, I have had previous Pharmacy bills as high as 2000฿ for a grazed leg, my confidence in healthcare here is not very high!

[JLCrab]

For years now I've been reading anecdotal horror stories on this Health Forum and on the Insurance Forum about how things work or don't work here in Thailand. While some incidents may be totally as presented by the ThaiVisa poster, I would like to hear the other side of the story from the hospital administrator, doctors, insurance claims people, etc. which you never do get to hear.

That would be good, don't think it will ever happen though, my op suggests to me that these people do not give a flying <deleted> and just want to sell as much useless medicine as possible, I have had previous Pharmacy bills as high as 2000฿ for a grazed leg, my confidence in healthcare here is not very high!

I would guess not as well -- but I would think that in some component of these horror stories the 'other side' would say: That is a totally inaccurate assessment of what happened and the information with which we were presented when the patient in question first appeared for treatment.

[dogpoo]

For years now I've been reading anecdotal horror stories on this Health Forum and on the Insurance Forum about how things work or don't work here in Thailand. While some incidents may be totally as presented by the ThaiVisa poster, I would like to hear the other side of the story from the hospital administrator, doctors, insurance claims people, etc. which you never do get to hear.

That would be good, don't think it will ever happen though, my op suggests to me that these people do not give a flying <deleted> and just want to sell as much useless medicine as possible, I have had previous Pharmacy bills as high as 2000฿ for a grazed leg, my confidence in healthcare here is not very high!

I would guess not as well -- but I would think that in some component of these horror stories the 'other side' would say: That is a totally inaccurate assessment of what happened and the information with which we were presented when the patient in question first appeared for treatment.

It's straight forward, took daughter to hospital, daughter was very very hot all over with cough etc, they were in the office for approx 1 minute, gf said "he say cold, might have to come back if serious" <deleted> tablets we were given made her sick as in throwing up!!

[JLCrab]

I was in no way addressing any specific instance.

[OxfordWill]

Was once prescribed horse medications for a sore throat. Thanks to google I did not consume them.

[dogpoo]

Was once prescribed horse medications for a sore throat. Thanks to google I did not consume them.

It might have made you bigger lol

[dogpoo]

I was in no way addressing any specific instance.

I know but this thread is about my experience!

[JLCrab]

I was in no way addressing any specific instance.

I know but this thread is about my experience!

OK -- If you asked the doctor in question why he/she (according the the OP) misdiagnosed the young girl in question, the answer would be either:

1. I really screwed up on that one, or

2. The scenario as presented by the OP is not an accurate assessment or presentation of the details in the incident in question.

Take your pick -- but until you hear the other side, we are only hearing how you choose to relate the situation.