New Hospital for Chiang Mai

[khwaibah]

New Hospital for Chiang Mai Jul 22, 2014

Business

A new private hospital in Chiang Mai aims to bring first-class healthcare services to people across the region.

http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=4270

[MESmith]

Great name

[fredge45]

Great name

Great prices like Ram?

[whatsupdoc]

Great name

Great prices like Ram?

If I have to guess I would say higher than Ram. But it might actually be good that Ram faces some competition.

[clokwise]

I probably shouldn't post this because I've found Bangkok Hospital to be very impressive, and once word gets out that'll probably all come to an end. My wife and I have been there a few times for various things over the last month. Yes, inpatient room costs are higher than RAM, but I haven't yet had the misfortune to check them out. Outpatient and pharmacy seems about the same price as RAM. They claim to be having temporary issues with the insurance companies so they may not accept your insurance, better check first. They do have a shortage of doctors, for example they don't currently have a specialist to treat my arthritis, so I'm still, unfortunately, gonna have to deal with RAM for a while longer. On the plus side, it's super clean, and it's almost always deserted so you can literally walk in and see a doctor immediately, and he'll spend time with you rather than try to usher you out quickly. After you see the doctor you can pay immediately then within just a minute or two your prescription is ready and you're headed back home! The doctors and nurses and staff all seem very happy working there and are super friendly and helpful. No parking garage, but parking slots always seem to be available round back not too far from the doors. They're also opening a small cafe in the lobby soon which looks inviting.

[elektrified]

Is it only me that goes to see the doctor at his/her clinic based on the doctors reputation, and goes to a hospital only when I'm admitted? I don't understand people who go to a "name brand" hospital to see a doctor they have never heard of. I guess it's because I grew up in America and no one would ever go to a hospital for routine healthcare as you would have to be admitted by a doctor or else go to the E.R. and pay about US $400.00 minimum which would make no sense (and use resources when a seriously injured person may need them more than you). But I also lived in 3 European countries) Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic) and always went to clinics (or outpatient surgical centers) in those countries just like the locals did. So why do so many people go to a hospital for routine healthcare in Thailand? Just curious....

[Mapguy]

Not surprising to hear of some problems breaking in new facilities.

Accessibility, of course, is arguably good. For many, it is much handier than Ram, Lanna, Sripat and others. So, people have to answer the question as to whether it is better to "follow the hospital" or find and work with a physician surgeon who best fits your needs.

I really wonder how many physicians and surgeons will sign up. I would think their arrangements must be very competitive. Quite sure that current staff are very pleasant and accomodating! They had better be!

Bangkok Hospital has deep pockets, probably a lot deeper than Ram.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Mapguy

[elektrified]

I really wonder how many physicians and surgeons will sign up. I would think their arrangements must be very competitive. Quite sure that current staff are very pleasant and accomodating! They had better be!

In looking at their website, it appears they only have 2 Physicians on staff; an internist and a nephrologist (both with about 10-12 years experience). No surgeons are listed.

In the debate on the health forum about this facility, one member mentioned it takes 3-5 days to get a written response from them. I don't know why he/she doesn't pick up the phone and call. Email in Thailand is the last form of communication I would ever use...

No doubt their pricing is higher than RAM which would account for such a lukewarm response. I walked past the other day and from outside you couldn't even tell they were open for business. It was so devoid of people.

[NancyL]

Is it only me that goes to see the doctor at his/her clinic based on the doctors reputation, and goes to a hospital only when I'm admitted? I don't understand people who go to a "name brand" hospital to see a doctor they have never heard of. I guess it's because I grew up in America and no one would ever go to a hospital for routine healthcare as you would have to be admitted by a doctor or else go to the E.R. and pay about US $400.00 minimum which would make no sense (and use resources when a seriously injured person may need them more than you). But I also lived in 3 European countries) Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic) and always went to clinics (or outpatient surgical centers) in those countries just like the locals did. So why do so many people go to a hospital for routine healthcare in Thailand? Just curious....

You don't understand how medical care functions in Thailand. Often the quickest and easiest way to see a doctor is to go to a private hospital, report to the info desk, describe your problem and be referred to the appropriate department where you'll often be seen within a few hours, if not immediately. No, you're not going into the E.R., like you would in the U.S. and paying $400 minimum. More like seeing a specialist and paying 400 baht, with a much shorter wait time.

Very few doctors have office practice like they do in the U.S. At best, they may have private, store-front clinics for a few hours in the evenings or on weekends. The best time to see them is during their regular hours AT THE HOSPITAL.

I know of one situation where a tourist fell into a coma because she kept asking people like the front desk clerk at the guest house, the waitress at a restaurant and a tuk-tuk driver where she could go to see a doctor and they all referred her to Chiang Mai Ram Hospital. She said "no, I don't need to go to an ER, I just want to see a doctor in his office" She didn't understand going to CM Ram Hospital is the easiest way for a tourist to see a doctor. She delayed long enough that she finally fell into a coma and they there was no choice but to take her to CM Ram ER.

[elektrified]

I understand how medical care functions in Thailand. But I won't pay Chiang Mai Ram prices to see a doctor for routine health care. For example, one of my doctors charges 200 Baht to see him at his clinic and it costs 610 Baht to see him at RAM. Also it costs about 60% less to buy medicines from him at his clinic. Another one of my doctors (dermatologist) charges about 50-100 Baht at his clinic for a simple visit and never more than say 100 Baht for medicine. I had laser surgery there once and he spent about 70 minutes working on me. Cost: 2 or 3,000 Baht - been years now, I forget. The last time I needed a simple procedure and went to Sriphat to see him it cost me 6,450 Baht for about 15-20 minutes. 1,900 of that was for "laboratory investigation" even though he told me he was 99.9% sure it was benign but for legal and liability reasons he could not agree to the procedure at Sriphat unless I consented to the 1,900 Baht lab study.

I understand what you mean when you say "report to the info desk, describe your problem and be referred to the appropriate department where you'll often be seen within a few hours, if not immediately." But I would never do it that way. I would always research the doctor, get recommendations, and see the doctor at his/her clinic. I would never walk in and see an unknown doctor; just like I would never do that in Europe or the USA. The one time I went to Sriphat for a physical when I first moved here, I got a well-known doctor who was terrible. He never once got out of the chair to examine me. He only stared at his computer and his mobile. Even though my PSA was quite high he refused to do a DRE. I demanded he check my BP a 2nd time and as I suspected the digital machine the nurse used was way off indicating I had hypertension when I didn't.

"Very few doctors have office practice like they do in the U.S. At best, they may have private, store-front clinics for a few hours in the evenings or on weekends. The best time to see them is during their regular hours AT THE HOSPITAL." I respectfully disagree. Every doctor I have met in Thailand has their own clinic.

And most Thais (that I know) always see the doctors at their clinics.

[Tywais]

I was at Chiang Mai Ram to investigate a skin growth and found the entire first floor is under renovation. Half of it blocked off and now all new row of counters on the left rather than office desks. Mentioned it to a friend and he suggested perhaps to keep ahead of the new competition.

[Sparkles]

I was at Chiang Mai Ram to investigate a skin growth and found the entire first floor is under renovation. Half of it blocked off and now all new row of counters on the left rather than office desks. Mentioned it to a friend and he suggested perhaps to keep ahead of the new competition.

RAM has been under renovation for over a year, its only been recently that they have accelerated work,and its come to peoples attention being on the 1st floor. eg the dermatology dept was shifted to the 5th floor a long time ago and the old area is still under renovation, a bathroom/toilet area on the first floor was also upgraded quite a while ago.

I have no idea how old the RAM Hospital is but renovation was well and truly over due and is not an easy task still trying to function normally. We have unfortuantly been constant visitors to RAM over the last few weeks and very noticeable is the increase in people seeking treatment, especially from China and Japan, keeping translators very busy.Medical tourism.

I spoke to a specialist re staffing off the new Bangkok Hospital.I believe some RAM Drs have been approached to work there and I guess it will be a while before they are up and running 100%.

Nursing staff don't come out of thin air either so there is an incentive there to create a lot of new employment and some nurses ,trained in Bangkok, are apparently on their way.

[NancyL]

Electrified, you asked why so many people go to hospitals for routine health care in Thailand and I explained. They're not going to the E.R. and paying U.S. $400 E.R. fees as you mentioned in your first post. They're seeing a doctor in an out-patient clinic soon after arrival and paying a fee that is reasonable, compared to to what they would have paid in their home country.

Not everyone is as smart as you to be able to figure out which specialist they need to see for a problem and then determine where that specialist has their clinic and at what hours. The specialists I like all seem to have private clinics with very limited hours, evenings and weekends on the other side of town.

Yes, the meds are way overpriced at the hospitals. But, it's easy enough to ask the doctor to write down the details about the med and go buy it at a local pharmacy.

But, (this will shock you) once when I was feeling really crummy and just wanted to go home and go to bed, I bought the meds at the hospital and took a tuk-tuk home when I could have walked up the back alley to KSK, bought the meds at a pharmacy and then continued on home on foot. I probably wasted 500 baht just for the convenience of getting home sooner!

[elektrified]

Electrified, you asked why so many people go to hospitals for routine health care in Thailand and I explained. They're not going to the E.R. and paying U.S. $400 E.R. fees as you mentioned in your first post. They're seeing a doctor in an out-patient clinic soon after arrival and paying a fee that is reasonable, compared to to what they would have paid in their home country.

Not everyone is as smart as you to be able to figure out which specialist they need to see for a problem and then determine where that specialist has their clinic and at what hours. The specialists I like all seem to have private clinics with very limited hours, evenings and weekends on the other side of town.

Yes, the meds are way overpriced at the hospitals. But, it's easy enough to ask the doctor to write down the details about the med and go buy it at a local pharmacy.

But, (this will shock you) once when I was feeling really crummy and just wanted to go home and go to bed, I bought the meds at the hospital and took a tuk-tuk home when I could have walked up the back alley to KSK, bought the meds at a pharmacy and then continued on home on foot. I probably wasted 500 baht just for the convenience of getting home sooner!

I understand what you are saying NancyL. I agree, when you are not feeling well sometimes we just want to get home quickly even if it means buying the medicine at the hospital for a whole lot more.

[evenstevens]

its really down to ones,own gut feeling who to seek in medical services in c/mai, is nt it????

for me, its c/mai ram,hands and heels.

WHY..

over the past 13 yrs they have got me over the line in first place ,in quite a few tight finishs

thats great track form, for the old evenstevens,

and at any price i might add...,a nice morning to all

[Codesh]

.....

Yes, the meds are way overpriced at the hospitals. But, it's easy enough to ask the doctor to write down the details about the med and go buy it at a local pharmacy.

.....

I agree with you about using hospitals as local doctors. If my local doctor is closed, I would happily go to the nearest hospital. Maybe I pay 600 baht instead of of 300 baht, but that isn't major. And the hospital does have many more overheads to cover.

But I hate the way hospitals try to push their over-priced meds onto you. One time I told the doctor at the hospital that I didn't need drug x, only drug y. Then paid my bill, and went to pharmacy. But at pharmacy there was both X and Y waiting, and I had paid for them both (not checked the bill closely enough). When I said I didn't want X, the pharmacy girl said she would have to go and find the doctor to get him to change the prescription, then arrange for a refund from cashier..... I gave up and took both drugs home.

They seem reluctant to follow your tip of writing it down for you - naturally enough. I will be much more assertive next time I need an meds at a hospital.

[clokwise]

In our case, Bangkok Hospital is not a "brand", I've never been to any of their other branches before, but it's just conveniently close to where we live. So why not try it? We've visited probably half a dozen hospitals in CM over the years with mixed results. There is something to be said for a brand new efficiently run hospital with modern equipment vs. what appears to be a former hotel converted into a hospital, which looks more like a construction site than a hospital at the moment, and as was noted above, is now virtually overrun with Chinese and foreign tourists.

I've also visited clinics and govt hospitals here, and when you can find a good doctor they are fine, but sometimes it's just a matter of comfort and convenience. At RAM a 5~10 minute consultation with my doctor usually turns into an hour and a half there checking in, waiting, paying, more waiting, collecting my meds. I can visit the same doctor when she works at Maharaj and pay far less, but the waiting times there are even worse, and that hospital is really bleak and depressing. Bangkok Hospital is my first CM hospital experience where I've spent more time with the doctor than I did waiting around. If people want to continue heading to RAM for whatever reasons I respect their opinions, but I'm personally hoping to eventually never need to go back there.

[hml367]

It seems to me that hospitals, both private and government, in Chiang Mai ( I have never been in a hospital outside of Chiang Mai except for an emergency, not mine, one time) that hospitals here have clinic type services. I don't remember any clinic type services at hospitals where I lived in California and Hawaii.

It also seems to me that the ER of hospitals in Chiang Mai and where I was in the US operate very similarly, aside from the cost.