Dialysis in Thailand

[Dario]

A friend of mine from Germany needs to take dialisys and he would like to do this in Thailand, he had lived here already in Pattaya for a couple of years. Right now he's in Germany recovering from a triple bypass operation. He has health insurance in Germany, but it would cover dialysis in Thailand only during an official holiday but no farther.

A Thai friend of mine in Bangkok is now on home dialysis since 5 years and he is covered with the 30 Baht scheme. A network delivers the fluid regularly to his home, so financially it's no financial burden for him, but anyway, I wouldn't like to be in his shoes as he has to do 4 - 5 dialysis day in day out.

I can imagine that there must be many foreigners here on dialysis. For those who have health insurance which might covers the cost, there is no problem for them. But I wonder if there are members who are on dialisys who have to absorbe the cost by themselves. I'm pretty sure there are.

Can anyone tell me how much home peretoneal dialysis amounts to using a hospital network? My friend Roy said it must be a couple of hundred Baht per pouch (sorry, maybe not the right word). My friend would need to do dialysis at home about 3 times per day or hemo dialysis at a hospital about 3 times a week. He would probably do it in Surin province as his wife is from there. Should probably be cheaper upcountry as well as opposed to BKK or Pattaya.

Any information would be very much appreciated. I would like to help my friend from Germany to return to LOS and do it here rather than in cold, rainy Berlin where he's from.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Dario

[Sheryl]

I don't know the cost of peritoneal dialysis but it will be much, much more than a couple hundred baht. Will also depend on the hospital, with government hospitals being far less expensive than private, but needing to be a tertiary level government hospital.

Hemodialysis, even at a government hospital, would be prohibitively expensive. And I am not sure about the availability of home health services upcountry, this is quite new to Thailand and mostly in urban areas.

A much bigger concern than the cost of the dialysis solution and equipment is how this man would pay for other medical care. A person in renal failure is at particular risk of complications, and almost certain to need hospitalization from time to time. And of course any person can suffer an accident, heart attack, stroke etc. With no insurance how will he pay for this? A catastrophic illness or accident can run into millions of baht, even at a government hospital.

I would strongly advise against someone with chronic renal failure who has coverage in their home country moving to Thailand unless very wealthy.

[Dario]

I don't know the cost of peritoneal dialysis but it will be much, much more than a couple hundred baht. Will also depend on the hospital, with government hospitals being far less expensive than private, but needing to be a tertiary level government hospital.

Hemodialysis, even at a government hospital, would be prohibitively expensive. And I am not sure about the availability of home health services upcountry, this is quite new to Thailand and mostly in urban areas.

A much bigger concern than the cost of the dialysis solution and equipment is how this man would pay for other medical care. A person in renal failure is at particular risk of complications, and almost certain to need hospitalization from time to time. And of course any person can suffer an accident, heart attack, stroke etc. With no insurance how will he pay for this? A catastrophic illness or accident can run into millions of baht, even at a government hospital.

I would strongly advise against someone with chronic renal failure who has coverage in their home country moving to Thailand unless very wealthy.

Thank you, Sheryl.

It is very obvious what he has to do. Stay in Berlin where his health insurance pays for everything.

[dddave]

A friend from Canada who is on 3 day a week dialysis visited for the month of December a few years ago. His Canadian national health care was portable and covered most aspects of his treatment here as an outpatient at Samitivej Hospital.and he was happy with the treatment he received there. He was helped by the fact that he has a devoted Thai wife who was able to oversee all aspects of his care and the logistics of getting to his treatments.

He had a great visit and really enjoyed himself but it was not easy and could never have been done without a lot of assistance from his wife and friends.

[Sheryl]

A friend from Canada who is on 3 day a week dialysis visited for the month of December a few years ago. His Canadian national health care was portable and covered most aspects of his treatment here as an outpatient at Samitivej Hospital.and he was happy with the treatment he received there. He was helped by the fact that he has a devoted Thai wife who was able to oversee all aspects of his care and the logistics of getting to his treatments.

He had a great visit and really enjoyed himself but it was not easy and could never have been done without a lot of assistance from his wife and friends.

Not to mention the coverage from his health care system....