Hospital charges on retirement visa

[nongsangcity]

1 hour ago, Si Thea01 said:

 

 

Agreed there. I have a certain blood pressure tablet, private hospital cost for one month's supply, B2500, a local drug store, B1400, big difference.  I haven't tried to obtain it from a government hospital, will ask next time but I do know that what I require is restricted and not obtainable by most drugstores.  Took inquiries at around 15 stores before I found one that was willing and able to acquire the product for me. 

give your local hospital or clinic a go......my tablets are 30 baht for 2 months supply....but iam on the 30b scheme without the scheme the tablets are 300 b....for 2 months

[nongsangcity]

16 hours ago, Grubster said:

I have been living in Sakon for five years and this sounds good, I am not sure what a yellow house book is or how to get it, maybe I have one do you need one for retirement extension or drivers license?

yellow book is from your local amphur.....it has your home address in it............no need for a retirement visa or driving license

[joskeshake]

3 hours ago, glegolo said:

You should ALWAYS try to stay away from buying the medicin at the private hospitals. The order of expensive medicin in general, for me here in Chaiyaphum, starting with expensive down to dirt cheap, my list is;

1. private hospitals extremely expensive

2. clinics - somewhat expensive

3. pharmacies - somewhat cheap

4. public hospitals - really cheap..

 

So take the recepy or list from your doctor and do purchase elsewhere when you are in that rivate hospital. That is my recommendation at least.

 

Glegolo

i  understand and told the doktor already, so he gave me peace of paper (not official from hospital) with name of the medicins i need, but then when you go to pharmacy, they only and always have the same but medicine but other name ?I dont understand this.

[glegolo]

28 minutes ago, joskeshake said:

i  understand and told the doktor already, so he gave me peace of paper (not official from hospital) with name of the medicins i need, but then when you go to pharmacy, they only and always have the same but medicine but other name ?I dont understand this.

Now I gonna write something that maybe Sheryl will hang me to dry for... But for me, I rarely use the original medicin-brand i.e. Metformin it cost 3 baht a pill (I am using 4/day) while the copies or piratecopies only cost 1 baht a pill..

 

For most medicines there are copies luckily for us falangs living here, and there are also other medicine-brands with exactly the very same active substans... I usually check on internet, so it is the same medicin, and good for me. And it saves me a fortune every year.

 

Glegolo

[Si Thea01]

3 hours ago, glegolo said:

I think that in order to be able to buy medicin at the public hospital, you need to be treated by their own doctor, who then can prescribe medicin to your liking hopefully..

 

So go there, sign up for the doctor, and you are good I guess, that is at least how it worked for me when I now have transferred myself FROM treatment and medicin at BKK hospital in Khorat, to the public hospital in Chaiyaphum.

 

My total savings for my medicines is about 40.000 baht if compared between the pharmacies and the public hospital here....

 

Glegolo

 

Thanks for that.  Will give it a go next visit.

[Si Thea01]

2 hours ago, nongsangcity said:

give your local hospital or clinic a go......my tablets are 30 baht for 2 months supply....but iam on the 30b scheme without the scheme the tablets are 300 b....for 2 months

 

I've already tried that, to no avail.  Unfortunately, I am not on the 30 baht scheme, so miss out all ways.  Happy that it's only costing me almost half of what I used to pay.  Thanks anyway for the information.

[Sheryl]

10 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

The low cost Sheryl could be attributed to not being opened up (operation) as the stent is usually put into a wire via the main artery through the groan and pushed up into the blocked area in the heart, no need to be put under, usually an assistant working with the Cardiologist, all up it took about an hour for my procedure, therefore I am assuming that higher costs are associated with being opened up ?

 

 

No, even regular angio and stent placement under local usually costs much more than that at a private hospital. I don't know why so little in this poster's case. Maybe the hospital had a promotion?

 

One of the things that pushes the cost up is the cost of the stent device itself, which is imported and costly.

[Sheryl]

5 hours ago, joskeshake said:

i  understand and told the doktor already, so he gave me peace of paper (not official from hospital) with name of the medicins i need, but then when you go to pharmacy, they only and always have the same but medicine but other name ?I dont understand this.

Medications have both a brand name and a generic (chemical) name.

 

For the majority of drugs, there are more than one brand available.

 

If yo ugo to a pharmacy of any size, will usually have more than one brand of the same generic drug.

 

Have your doctor write down the generic name, and be sure to go to large pharmacies. ...real pharmacies, not a  Boots or Watsons.

[4MyEgo]

16 hours ago, Sheryl said:

 

No, even regular angio and stent placement under local usually costs much more than that at a private hospital. I don't know why so little in this poster's case. Maybe the hospital had a promotion?

 

One of the things that pushes the cost up is the cost of the stent device itself, which is imported and costly.

 

So the OP got lucky then 555

[nongsangcity]

On 27/11/2559 at 4:11 PM, Si Thea01 said:

 

I've already tried that, to no avail.  Unfortunately, I am not on the 30 baht scheme, so miss out all ways.  Happy that it's only costing me almost half of what I used to pay.  Thanks anyway for the information.

you can register with your local government hospital no problem...but they will want to take care of you though...you would have to go every 2 or 3 months for a check up they will give you your tablets from their own pharmacy at around 250-300 b for 2 or 3 months..time to go to any local hospital is at 1pm as morning will be busy...if you can wait for a hour every 2/3 monts its worth the wait

[soisanuk]

On 11/26/2016 at 7:41 PM, Anthony5 said:

 

 

I don't think Queen Sirikit is a government hospital, as I asked this just recently at the doctor in Banglamung hospital as my son needed treatment which isn't available at Banglamung, though the Sattahip government hospital isn't far from there.

 

Queen Sirikit is both a government hospital that treats Thais and foreigners and a Naval Hospital for the Sattahip Navy Base personnel. As such, you will see both civilian and navy staff and doctors. Myself, I use Bangkok Hospital Pattaya - even though it is the most expensive in Pattaya, I am a retired US Federal Employee and have insurance I carried over into retirement which covers  85% of my outpatient/drug costs and 100% of inpatient costs. If I didn't have insurance or one with limited cover, I would  most likely be using Queen Sirikit or be forced to return to USA for medicare coverage.  For those that may be interested in using Queen Sirikit, the following relates to my Thai partner who is under the 30 baht scheme and experience with both a private hospital here in Pattaya and at Queen Sirikit.

 

My Thai partner was being treated at Pattaya Memorial by a gastroenterologist who worked part time on weekends and evening - his primary place was Queen Sirikit and he apparently was also a Naval Doctor as he was unavailable at Pattaya Memorial for a few months because as my partner explained to me "he had to go play soldier."  You may find that several doctors, especially those with specialties, work full time at a Government Hospital and part time at a private hospital  - generally they will be available for appointments only on certain days and/or after normal daytime working hours at one or more private hospitals or at a clinic.

 

I know several farang expats go to Queen Sirikit for treatment because it is an excellent hospital with very good doctors and most speak fair to good English - other hospital staff not so much.  My partner's first trip to Pattaya Memorial (private) hospital was an emergency situation - in ICU for 2 days and regular room for 2 days - total cost was about  140,000 baht (when the initial costs were mounting, I inquired whether they had "member card" program, they did for a cost 1,000 baht baht per year - once we got the card, it applied to the current inpatient stay and they immediately revised my bill at that point to reduce the cost incurred by 12,000 baht - I found it interesting that their signs advertising the "member card and discounts" was only in Thai; later I visited a Canadian expat friend who was in Pattaya Memorial - he was commenting about the cost (no insurance to cover) and I suggested he get the card - he was not aware of it, inquired, paid his 1,000 baht and his bill was accordling reduced.

 

Sometime later, because of another problem, we went to Queen Sirikit as my partner was a member of the 30 baht scheme (Thais are required to register at the Government Hospital for their official - Tambian Ban - residence  (in this case, Chattarat in Chayaphum Province, but once receiving the registration card, you can use other Government Hospitals in Thailand). They informed us that there was renal failure, the condition was serious, and the doctor recommended we go back to Pattaya Memorial as they had the necessary medical records.  Turned out to be an infection that the gastroenterologist said was probably caused by eating bad seafood - another 140,000 baht for the stay. 

 

A few years ago, which was about 2 years after the esophagus problem, my partner started throwing up blood again - since I was really not in position for another 140,000+ out of pocket expense, we went to Queen Sirikit (about a 40-50 minute drive from my house in Jomtien area of Pattaya) - no problems in being admitted -  they have a triage person at the emergency room entrance who evaluates patient conditions and assigns a priority - red must be highest,  because that is what he gave my partner who was immediately wheeled into the emergency room.  The doctor also explained to me in English his condition and treatment needed - a surgical procedure using a scope down the throat. My partner spent 6 nights in a hospital ward with many other patients in separate bays (no A/C, but they had a fan blowing on each bed, they do have some private rooms, but not for those on the 30 baht scheme - my partner actually liked the ward better than a private room as there was always someone to "talk " with). Upon release, there was some papers to sign, but the  bill was "zero" as it was an emergency room admission. 

 

A few months later, we went back to Queen Sirikit to have "pus" pocket on my partner's shoulder that was itching and becoming painful examined - no prior appointment. Again, this was using the  30 baht scheme for treatment. The only thing is to expect a 3 to 4 hour wait to see the doctor - however, after it was treated for infection with a return trip when it was lanced, we no longer had to see the doctor for followup examination, cleaning, and re-bandaging, so the wait was about 30 to 40 minutes after the scheduled appointment time.  Other than the doctor/hospital fee (as I recall it was 50 baht instead of 30 baht) we had to pay for medicine - the pharmacy wait can be another 30 minutes to an hour depending on how busy they are and the cost was quite reasonable.

 

Regarding the comment about what someone was told at Banglamung Hospital, it is the primary Government Hospital for Pattaya and patients needing more specialized treatment are sent to the Provincial Hospital in Chonburi  - since Queen Sirikit is primarily for serving Naval personnel, maybe they have been told to discourage folks from going there, but there was no problem with my partner being treated for outpatient care at Queen Sirikit - they have doctors in most if not all specialties as well as some of the latest diagnostic equipment.  Even with the surcharge for foreigners, it is substantially less costly than the private hospitals - for those without insurance or limited coverage, I would recommend they use Queen Sirikit over Banglamung or Chonburi Hospitals if they live in the Pattaya area. Even with the waits, which according to some expat friends that have been treated there, can also result in a few days or weeks before obtaining non-emergency surgery or diagnostic scans such as CT scan.