Heart Work, Hospitals And Costs

[chiang mai]

Just failed the stress test part of my annual physical at Bumrungrad and advised to have an angigram and probable need for aniplasty surgery to correct blockages in my cardiac artieries. Burungrad quotes 70,000 baht for the first part and 400,000 baht for the second part - additional stents (pieces of tube to keep the artery open) are 120,000 each.

Came home to Chiang Mai and saw an outstanding cardiac surgeon at Chiang Mai Ram hospital who did an angogram, including one night stay inhospital for 24,000. Angioplasty, if required, runs at 120,000 plus same high stent costs.

In my case, I only had the frist part of the work done as there was no need for the second part. Have to change lifetsyle however and cut out a few bad things from the diet and get off the couch more often!

Regardless, interesting price differential between the two places.

[qualtrough]

Bumrungrad is internationally accredited and positioning itself as the premier hospital here. Their main targets are overseas customers and local elites, so they can charge accordingly. Thus it is no surprise that Chiang Mai would be much cheaper. As to the relative quality, safety, etc. I am not qualified to comment. Here's wishing you continued health!

[lukamar]

Came home to Chiang Mai and saw an outstanding cardiac surgeon at Chiang Mai Ram hospital who did an angogram, including one night stay inhospital for 24,000. Angioplasty, if required, runs at 120,000 plus same high stent costs.

The guy you probably saw at Ram is the Head of Cardiology at Chiang Mai University Hospital (Suan Dok) he works on a on call basis for all the private hospitals. He's one of the best Cardiac Surgeons in Asia, trained in the US. My wife used to work in the Cardiac Dept with him at CMU and had nothing but good thing to say about his skills, he's a real perfectionist. If you are in CMai and need Open Heart, CMU is the most up to date hospital for that and it's less expensive. The CVT ICU is first class and almost all the nursing staff speak English, at least a bit.

[Mobi]

Very useful info - may need it one day

Hm.. fly to chiang Mai, and catch up on friends rather than drive to BKK and get pissed.

BTW, 470,000 Baht is less than 7,000 quid. Still cheap for one of the world's premier hospitals.

[redwood13]

Dated Feb. 2006 Bumrungrad's website gives the angiogram cost at 45,000 baht.

Bumrungrad - Diagnostic Coronary Angiogram Package

-redwood

[chiang mai]

Came home to Chiang Mai and saw an outstanding cardiac surgeon at Chiang Mai Ram hospital who did an angogram, including one night stay inhospital for 24,000. Angioplasty, if required, runs at 120,000 plus same high stent costs.

The guy you probably saw at Ram is the Head of Cardiology at Chiang Mai University Hospital (Suan Dok) he works on a on call basis for all the private hospitals. He's one of the best Cardiac Surgeons in Asia, trained in the US. My wife used to work in the Cardiac Dept with him at CMU and had nothing but good thing to say about his skills, he's a real perfectionist. If you are in CMai and need Open Heart, CMU is the most up to date hospital for that and it's less expensive. The CVT ICU is first class and almost all the nursing staff speak English, at least a bit.

That's useful to know and thanks for the heads up. I checked My doctors card and his name is Pattarapong hence not the same guy. But have to say I was very impressed with his doctor to patient style and felt very comfortable leaving go to work on some very important pieces of pump work without a worry. I checked out my doctor as far as I could beforehand and could only discover that he is a graduate of CMU, continues to teach there and is the cardiac physician that the Australian Embassy refers its citizens and pilots to.

[chiang mai]

Dated Feb. 2006 Bumrungrad's website gives the angiogram cost at 45,000 baht.

Bumrungrad - Diagnostic Coronary Angiogram Package

-redwood

I haven't opened your attachment and will take your word for it. Can only add that the figure of 70,000 was what was quoted about three weeks ago and was reafirmed by the cashier/check in/receptionist people whilst I was deciding how to play this whole thing. Maybe they are now having a High Season Sale? Maybe, and much more probably, it's a bit like the difference between booking a hotel room on the internet versus walking into the same hotel at 9:00pm at night and asking for a room - the price differences are enormous.