Good Gastroenterologist?

[dblaisde]

I've been on and off this forum for the last 6 months due to (basically) a nasy bellyache which puts me in bed 20 hours a day for weeks at a time. Can't solve the thing despite numerous trips to Bumrungrad and a few other places. I won't bore you with the symptoms or what's already been tried. But I think my Gastroenterologist at Bumrungrad is, to put it kindly, incompetent.

So, can anyone recommend a good Gastroenterologist?

Thanks in advance!

Edited January 5, 2016 by dblaisde

[Sheryl]

Prof. RUNGSUN RERKNIMITR

He is on faculty at Chula. US trained and US board certified. H has private hours at Samitivej Saturdays only https://www.samitivejhospitals.com/en/doctors/rungsun-rerknimitr/

He is also at Bangkok Hospital but they have revised their website such that cannot tell hours without actually trying to book an appointment. Bets to call and ask for their GI Clinic.

[kurd]

I was having gastro problems and I think I saw the same guy at Bumrungrad and was there for ten days. Could be described as a bit of an old plodder. Luckily I was seeing another doctor at the same hospital not her speciality but she put me right. For some reason I had to have two doctors see to me every day (that soon racks up the bill).The gastro expert was rubbish but the lady doctor was spot on.The bill for ten days was huge. I was sorted out but will go to another hospital in future.

[Sheryl]

There are more than 20 different GI specialists at Bumrungrad.

[dblaisde]

Prof. RUNGSUN RERKNIMITR

He is on faculty at Chula. US trained and US board certified. H has private hours at Samitivej Saturdays only https://www.samitivejhospitals.com/en/doctors/rungsun-rerknimitr/

He is also at Bangkok Hospital but they have revised their website such that cannot tell hours without actually trying to book an appointment. Bets to call and ask for their GI Clinic.

Thanks Sheryl. You come through as usual. He's probably cheaper if I can see him at Chula, otherwise I'll try one of the other two you mentioned.

Thanks again!

[dblaisde]

There are more than 20 different GI specialists at Bumrungrad.

I've found "Bummy" (as I call it) to be a lottery. There are some excellent doctors and some clueless ones. It's always a lottery. I even have a doctor I consult with there just to steer me to a good doctor for whatever problem I have at the moment. Random assignment by the hospital usually doesn't usually work out.

[dblaisde]

I was having gastro problems and I think I saw the same guy at Bumrungrad and was there for ten days. Could be described as a bit of an old plodder. Luckily I was seeing another doctor at the same hospital not her speciality but she put me right. For some reason I had to have two doctors see to me every day (that soon racks up the bill).The gastro expert was rubbish but the lady doctor was spot on.The bill for ten days was huge. I was sorted out but will go to another hospital in future.

B. used to be good when it was smaller. Better doctors and much cheaper, but now it seems set up to vacuum the money from your pockets. Like the 350 (approx) baht "facility fee", and they've added another fee "nursing staff" or something of 150B, and I saw a doctor there and his fee was 1500B. I've heard the docs can decide what they're going to charge. And lots of young doctors who aren't very experienced, which is pretty easy to discover if you do any homework before you arrive. I found one who didn't even know how to use the computer in his office. I had to show him how to do a google search because I wanted to point something out to him that he didn't know.

[Sheryl]

There are more than 20 different GI specialists at Bumrungrad.

I've found "Bummy" (as I call it) to be a lottery. There are some excellent doctors and some clueless ones. It's always a lottery. I even have a doctor I consult with there just to steer me to a good doctor for whatever problem I have at the moment. Random assignment by the hospital usually doesn't usually work out.

Letting the hospital decide whom to send you to is always a very, very bad idea.

What they will do is simply look in the schedule to see which of the requested specialist type is least busy on the day requested. This is usually not a good sign. They will most certainly not take any specific needs of yours into account. And should you make the mistake of trying to lay out the specifics of your situation/needs, not only will you not get directed to the best person, you may well get booked with not even the right type of specialist.

One of the best things about Bumrungrad though is an excellent website with detailed CVs of all doctors, well organized by specialty (as opposed to many other places. Bangkok Hospital just "revised" its website such that GI specialists and other key sub-specialties are all swallowed up under "Internal Medicine" -- making it almost useless).

Make use of it to personally select your doctor in advance. Look at the clinical focus (relevance to your particular problem) and look for fellowships done in a western country and if possible Board certification/equivalent in a western country. Also look at the dates, if trained in the west but decades ago may not be up to date. And if the title is "Professor" or "assistant Professor" that is also a plus.

Because Bumrungrad has the best website (at this point, thanks to various "revisions" by other hospitals' webmasters, all for the worse, it is in fact the only decent hospital website for doctor searches) I sometimes use it to find someone and then fish around with Google to see if they work anywhere else

Doctors do indeed set their own fees in private hospitals. They are not hospital employees. They are independent contractors. No salary; the doctor fee goes directly to them. Which is why the hospitals tack on a separate hospital charge. Pretty much all of them now do this through the amounts vary.

[DogNo1]

I've recently talked to several people who have switched from Bumrungrad to St. Louis Hospital because of excessive costs. I may do that for my next cardio checkup although I like my doctor at Bumrungrad. I simply don't want to pay $600 for a blood test and a stress ultrasound.

[kurd]

That is exactly what I did.Got quoted for 250,000 bt for a gallstone op at Bumrungrad and had the op done at St Loiis for 120,000.Very good service.

Have used Bumrungrad many times over the years and it always feels sooo money/profit focused.

St Louis does not operate like some money making machine and the service is just as good.

[chiang mai]

That is exactly what I did.Got quoted for 250,000 bt for a gallstone op at Bumrungrad and had the op done at St Loiis for 120,000.Very good service.

Have used Bumrungrad many times over the years and it always feels sooo money/profit focused.

St Louis does not operate like some money making machine and the service is just as good.

My wife had the same op. at the Provincial Hospital in Chiang Mai last year. As an ex patient at Bumrungrad I can tell you that the the entire process was equally as good at the Provincial Hospital and it only cost 28,000 baht, I couldn't fault any aspect other than the rooms needed a coat of paint.

[dblaisde]

There are more than 20 different GI specialists at Bumrungrad.

I've found "Bummy" (as I call it) to be a lottery. There are some excellent doctors and some clueless ones. It's always a lottery. I even have a doctor I consult with there just to steer me to a good doctor for whatever problem I have at the moment. Random assignment by the hospital usually doesn't usually work out.

Letting the hospital decide whom to send you to is always a very, very bad idea.

What they will do is simply look in the schedule to see which of the requested specialist type is least busy on the day requested. This is usually not a good sign. They will most certainly not take any specific needs of yours into account. And should you make the mistake of trying to lay out the specifics of your situation/needs, not only will you not get directed to the best person, you may well get booked with not even the right type of specialist.

One of the best things about Bumrungrad though is an excellent website with detailed CVs of all doctors, well organized by specialty (as opposed to many other places. Bangkok Hospital just "revised" its website such that GI specialists and other key sub-specialties are all swallowed up under "Internal Medicine" -- making it almost useless).

Make use of it to personally select your doctor in advance. Look at the clinical focus (relevance to your particular problem) and look for fellowships done in a western country and if possible Board certification/equivalent in a western country. Also look at the dates, if trained in the west but decades ago may not be up to date. And if the title is "Professor" or "assistant Professor" that is also a plus.

Because Bumrungrad has the best website (at this point, thanks to various "revisions" by other hospitals' webmasters, all for the worse, it is in fact the only decent hospital website for doctor searches) I sometimes use it to find someone and then fish around with Google to see if they work anywhere else

Doctors do indeed set their own fees in private hospitals. They are not hospital employees. They are independent contractors. No salary; the doctor fee goes directly to them. Which is why the hospitals tack on a separate hospital charge. Pretty much all of them now do this through the amounts vary.

Thanks for the insider tips Sheryl (cute emoticon). I agree about Bumrungrad's website. It is actually *useful*, and I'll sometimes do a google domain search on it, so I can use the "power of google" to search on just bumrungrad.com. It's nice they list certifications and education in western countries, though I've heard some try to beef up their CVs by taking a pass/fail summer course at some hospital in the West. Thinking about what you said (getting the hospital to schedule you with "our next available doctor"), I see the error of my ways. Could be "the next available doctor" is *always* available because nobody wants to see him. I think the washup I saw was the same guy another person on this thread described. Their whole Gastro dept seems very inept. The doctor was 40 minutes late. Reception didn't phone me when he got back, as they said they would (I went down to grab a bite to eat), and they even took me to the wrong doctor! The nurse led me in and the doctor said "What can I do for you today, Mr Swensen?". Well, I'm not Mr Swensen, not even close, and my picture is on my forms so I'm easy to identify. Just watching them bumping into each other behind reception is like a Keystone Cops movie.

[Sheryl]

It's easy to distinguish between short courses and an actual residency of Fellowship, the latter being what you want. A residency or fellowship has duration of not less than a full year, hard to get into and demanding to complete.

It will usually say specifically Residency of Fellowship, and indicate appropriate duration. In addition, if it was done in the US there will usually be traces in google listing that doctor as working in the US.

CVs full of short courses/certificate courses are indeed often just trying to look good.

[ericg1953]

There are more than 20 different GI specialists at Bumrungrad.

I've found "Bummy" (as I call it) to be a lottery. There are some excellent doctors and some clueless ones. It's always a lottery. I even have a doctor I consult with there just to steer me to a good doctor for whatever problem I have at the moment. Random assignment by the hospital usually doesn't usually work out.

Letting the hospital decide whom to send you to is always a very, very bad idea.

What they will do is simply look in the schedule to see which of the requested specialist type is least busy on the day requested. This is usually not a good sign. They will most certainly not take any specific needs of yours into account. And should you make the mistake of trying to lay out the specifics of your situation/needs, not only will you not get directed to the best person, you may well get booked with not even the right type of specialist.

One of the best things about Bumrungrad though is an excellent website with detailed CVs of all doctors, well organized by specialty (as opposed to many other places. Bangkok Hospital just "revised" its website such that GI specialists and other key sub-specialties are all swallowed up under "Internal Medicine" -- making it almost useless).

Make use of it to personally select your doctor in advance. Look at the clinical focus (relevance to your particular problem) and look for fellowships done in a western country and if possible Board certification/equivalent in a western country. Also look at the dates, if trained in the west but decades ago may not be up to date. And if the title is "Professor" or "assistant Professor" that is also a plus.

Because Bumrungrad has the best website (at this point, thanks to various "revisions" by other hospitals' webmasters, all for the worse, it is in fact the only decent hospital website for doctor searches) I sometimes use it to find someone and then fish around with Google to see if they work anywhere else

Doctors do indeed set their own fees in private hospitals. They are not hospital employees. They are independent contractors. No salary; the doctor fee goes directly to them. Which is why the hospitals tack on a separate hospital charge. Pretty much all of them now do this through the amounts vary.

Thanks for the insider tips Sheryl (cute emoticon). I agree about Bumrungrad's website. It is actually *useful*, and I'll sometimes do a google domain search on it, so I can use the "power of google" to search on just bumrungrad.com. It's nice they list certifications and education in western countries, though I've heard some try to beef up their CVs by taking a pass/fail summer course at some hospital in the West. Thinking about what you said (getting the hospital to schedule you with "our next available doctor"), I see the error of my ways. Could be "the next available doctor" is *always* available because nobody wants to see him. I think the washup I saw was the same guy another person on this thread described. Their whole Gastro dept seems very inept. The doctor was 40 minutes late. Reception didn't phone me when he got back, as they said they would (I went down to grab a bite to eat), and they even took me to the wrong doctor! The nurse led me in and the doctor said "What can I do for you today, Mr Swensen?". Well, I'm not Mr Swensen, not even close, and my picture is on my forms so I'm easy to identify. Just watching them bumping into each other behind reception is like a Keystone Cops movie.

I will agree with you that the gastro dept at Bumrungrad is one of their weaker links. That being said, there are many good Drs in Bum and as Sheryl has mentioned it's easy to look at their education/training/certifications/ specialities. This info will typically provide a well qualified physician to address ones problems. It's a far superior way to seek good healthcare here than just calling into the appointment desk.

[dblaisde]

It's easy to distinguish between short courses and an actual residency of Fellowship, the latter being what you want. A residency or fellowship has duration of not less than a full year, hard to get into and demanding to complete.

It will usually say specifically Residency of Fellowship, and indicate appropriate duration. In addition, if it was done in the US there will usually be traces in google listing that doctor as working in the US.

CVs full of short courses/certificate courses are indeed often just trying to look good.

Again, thanks for the pro tip, Sheryl. I never knew how to distinguish between all those qualification names. This will help for my next search on the Bummy site. Cheers!