Hand surgeon in Bangkok

[dblaisde]

I have a friend who needs a good hand surgeon in Bangkok. She lost all her fingers about 4 months ago, and they said she needs to have surgury to increase the flexibility of her thumb, which is all that remains of her hand (the surgery is too aid a future prosthesis).

Any help appreciated!

thanks.

[mike324]

I would advise going to other develop Asian nations for the surgery. A friend lost a thumb in an industrial accident and was sent to Bumrungrad Hospital, the doctors said they can't reattached the thumb. Friend went to Taiwan and got the surgery done, he regain full function of his thumb. I've heard of many horror stories with surgeries in Thailand, its not worth the risk and quite frankly the costs here are 50% to double the cost of operation in other developed asian countries such as Taiwan and South Korea. Surgeries may be cheaper here compare to western countries, but people often fail to compare it with more develop Asian countries which has a more develop medical industry.

I cannot speak for Singapore, Malaysia, or Japan regarding to the cost.

[Sheryl]

Dr. Panupan at Phyathai Hospital and also at Siriraj is excellent. He is the head of the Siriraj microsurgery dept (which does BTW do limb and digit reattachments, tho obviously not relevant in this instance).

[dblaisde]

Dr. Panupan at Phyathai Hospital and also at Siriraj is excellent. He is the head of the Siriraj microsurgery dept (which does BTW do limb and digit reattachments, tho obviously not relevant in this instance).

Thanks Sheryl,

Excellent advice and I talked to her about Dr. Panupan.

Unfortunately, she's set up an insurance relationship with Bumrungrad and Bangkok hospital and is reluctant to change from those two. Do you happen to know of any good hand surgeons at either of those two hospitals?

She's bit through so much with the shower electrocution that burned off her fingers that she doesn't have much strength for develop new medical relationships at the moment.

thanks again

[Thanyaburi Mac]

"shower electrocution"???

Got me nervous now, can you elaborate?

Mac

[dblaisde]

"shower electrocution"???

Got me nervous now, can you elaborate?

Mac

Yeah. A lot of Thai "electricians" don't know what to do with the green grounding wire for shower water heaters so they leave it unattached. If through wear and tear there's a short (an electrical connection to the outside of the heater and the controls, including water controls), you get fried. 4 fingers and half her palm were cooked very quickly. She lost consciousness but her dogs woke up the neighbors and she went to Bangkok Hospital. In the first week she had no idea who she was or how she got there. Her urine was black! I lived in the hospital all the first week until she got her brain back and could remember where the nurse's button was. I'm her ex boyfriend of 10 years and wanted to help her)

She had her house rewired (this is in Bang Sapan) and others got curious about their shower wiring and found out that NO heaters were grounded, so a good electrician (a Brit from one of the oil platforms) was busy for a few weeks grounding everybody's shower (you have to drive a grounding pole (metal, copper coated) into the earth a meter and attach the green wire to it). The local electricians (the incompetent ones) got pissed off though, and one day a Thai guy put a gun to his head in the market and told him to lay off fixing things: he was taking away business from them you see. (even though he was charging nominal amounts to repair these things. He only wanted to help people out who didn't want electrocution)

Bangkok and big cities are probably better than the small town of Bang Saphan, and actually have code inspectors that do their jobs and can't be bought off. There is a Thai electrical code for installing these things. I checked. And a hotel owner doesn't want to fry people so he probably does it right, but these people who built the house for her (and others in the neighborhood--a Brit and his Thai wife, both alcoholics) just wanted a fast buck and built the house with Burmese labor and using the cheapest materials possible, including the shower heater, which didn't even have a test (ECB button) on it--a test for proper grounding which the consumer can perform....When they pulled her shower heater out of the wall, there was the green wire dangling unattached in the air.

She's 65, German, retired for only 2 years, and just wanted a quiet retirement in Thailand. She loved to cook. Now she's looking around for prostheses for her right hand. You have to be careful in Thailand. It's easy to make assumptions that things (eg houses) are as they appear, not death traps.

(there! That's quite a bit of "elaboration")

Edited April 18, 2015 by dblaisde

[Thanyaburi Mac]

And, thanks!! Now to check my electric water heater....

Mac

[Sheryl]

Dr. Panupan at Phyathai Hospital and also at Siriraj is excellent. He is the head of the Siriraj microsurgery dept (which does BTW do limb and digit reattachments, tho obviously not relevant in this instance).

Thanks Sheryl,

Excellent advice and I talked to her about Dr. Panupan.

Unfortunately, she's set up an insurance relationship with Bumrungrad and Bangkok hospital and is reluctant to change from those two. Do you happen to know of any good hand surgeons at either of those two hospitals?...

I don't have any first or second hand feedback, but by qualification this looks like the best bet:

Bumrungrad:

https://www.bumrungrad.com/doctors/Suriya-Luenam

[dblaisde]

thanks again to all!