Queen Sirikit Hospital Sattahip - X-rays, Mri etc... on CD's

[dsfbrit]

I am going to the hospital tomorrow and forgot to ask if they will store any necessary X-ray, CT-scans and MRI scans on a CD for me to store on my computer. I phoned them just now and the departments are shut for the day. Can anyone let me know if they do this or not. it would save me a trip if they don't.

Thanks for your help.

[dsfbrit]

I went to the Queen Sirikit hospital in Sattahip today and can confirm that they will put X-rays, CT-scans, MRI scans and Ultrasound scans onto a CD for you as well as give you the film as well. The only trouble is, that when I got home I found the format of the X-rays to be in DICOM format and not Jpeg. I found an application online that converted DICOM to Jpeg as I needed Jpeg format in my case. So it may be a good idea to ask for Jpeg format at the hospital if you don't want the hassle of the conversion.

I have read various stories about this hospital perhaps not welcoming farang any more. This was my first visit to this hospital as a patient and I can assure everyone that I could not have been made more welcome.

I would say though that if you do not speak Thai, then you may need to take someone along with you who speaks Thai to understand what they are doing, as they do not appear to speak English. I am fortunate as I speak Thai, but when they were talking fast and using medical terms I got lost at times. I simply then explained to them in Thai what I thought they had said and it all sorted itself out in the end!

In fact in the waiting room of the orthopedic department where I was waiting, there were only 2 other farang the whole time I was there.

I actually arrived at 8.30 am when they opened and went to the information desk, where I was asked to fill in a membership card and was then assessed as to which department I needed. I then had to go to the membership section to give over my passport and form and wait for my membership card.

Everyone was smiling, friendly and helpful and certainly had no problem with a farang using the facilities.

I then went to the orthopedic department. It was 9 am and they gave me a queue number - number 49. A doctor had a quick look at my leg and said I needed to wait and see a doctor to have it assessed and maybe X-Rayed.

It was 11.30 before I was seen, so quite a long wait, but I had been warned of this. There are restaurants there, so you can get something to eat and find things to do, you do not need to sit in the waiting room the whole time.

Next time I would not be so far down the queue as I waited so long this time as I arrived at the orthopedic department later than the other patients as I was delayed for 30 minutes getting my membership card.

Once the doctor saw me he gave me a thorough examination and then sent me for an X-ray. Before I went to the hospital, I thought I may need an MRI or CT-scan as well, as it happened though my diagnosis was quite straight forward and I did not really even need the x-ray for his examination, but he sent for X-Rays anyway. These were to be used by me to send to another doctor.

They did however have all the latest equipment had I required it, an MRI scan was 15K baht and there was no queue. There was also no queue for the X-rays and they took just 30 minutes. I left the hospital at 1pm.

The cost of the doctor visit was 220 baht and the 3 X-rays of my hip in both film and on a CD in Dicom format was 660 baht.

Why you may ask would I bother going all the way to Sattahip to a public hospital and wait 3 hours when I could have had this done at an international hospital in Pattaya where I live.

Quite simply 'trust'. I knew that the diagnosis of my leg by the doctors at the government hospital in Sattahip, would be based on what was wrong with my leg and not on ways to make money out of me with lots of (expensive) tests leading to a diagnosis that involved having an operation that was not the best option for me.

This is exactly what happened to me before at one of the well known international hospitals in Pattaya and if it were not for forums such as TV, then I would have had the wrong hip operation some years ago (replacement not resurfacing), that would have been good for the international hospital as they had lots of experience of these types of operation, but not good for me!!

Anyway, I now know my leg pain is not to do with a recent football injury and that I need my right hip resurfaced and am sending my x-rays to the surgeon outside of Thailand who did my left leg resurfacing 2 years ago.

I will be heading off for the operation in about 8 weeks time.

[thaicookingchef]

Do they have dental department at this Sattahip public hospital ? Anybody has experience there ? Thank you.