Vachira Hospital In Phuket For Births

[smartecosse]

29th december, 3am

"i think we need to go to the hospital NOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!" was how I was woken. Headed off to Vachira, booked the g/f in and was told to basically get lost and come back at 9am.

Did that and was then told she was in the labour ward and couldn't see her (very politely explained) 9.28 am doctor arrived to see the "farang" and told me that both the mother and the baby were healthy and that they would be moved to the general ward at 1130 am at which point I could see them.

1130 was :D time .......................

Anyway level of care was very good, ended up taking a private room for the two nights that she had to stay in the hospital. They have two kinds, private and VIP. The actual standard of the two were the same but the VIP is about twice the size and has a sofa as well a table with 4 chairs at it. Both have fan, aircon and ensuite as well as balcony. VIP approx 2500 Baht per night, Private room 1200 baht per night. Being Scottish of course I opted for the Private rather than VIP one

They both also have a small "bed" for the happy dad's to sleep on. Although this is probably large enough for the average Thai at 6 foot tall i ended up sleeping on the floor both nights as it was more comfortable

Total cost for those that are intertested was

2400 Baht for the Private room

3500 for birth and drugs etc

and 24 Baht for something else - no idea what .................

Having been told at the beginning that it would be up to 12k was well impressed that it was under 6k. This was for a fairly straight forward birth though.

Overall the level of care was excellent although there is little to no interaction allowed / encouraged for the fathers to be with the doctors during all the checks ups leading up to the birth. You are just expected to wait outside.

Some slight Negatives

Very few of the nurses on the wards spoke much english

Every 2 minutes in the main ward someone sticks their face in your babys to admire the "na rak" farang baby ( the main reason i took the private room)

The hospital food leaves a bit to be desired ( there are plenty of food shops and a 7-11 close by though)