Are You Happy With The Treatment You Received in Hospital?

[MrPlum]

Having recently had some fascinating conversations with an experienced medical researcher, I'm interested in feedback from members on what % were happy with the treatments, that were either recommended, or they actually received within Thai hospitals.

I've made this a poll. Apologies if it doesn't cover every possibility.

Sensible comments are welcome.

[hhfarang]

Apologies if it doesn't cover every possibility.

Yes, MrP there isn't a choice for me or my family in your poll. In six years of living here we've had services performed in six different hospitals and were very happy with some and very disappointed with others, while yet others performed adequately but either not to full expectations or we felt we were charged too much.

Offenses ranged from total misdiagnosis and mistreatment (SP Hospital Hua Hin), undiagnosis due to a "don't give a care" attitude, (HH hospital once), mistakes made by mixing up patients test results (Private hospital in Petchaburi), too long wait time (big government hospital in Bangkok), satisfactory service but outrageous price (big private hospital in Bangkok), to excellent service and zero mistakes so far (in multiple visits by both my wife and myself) in a smaller less expensive private hospital in Bangkok.

[Khundon1975]

Both my visits to a Thai hospital involved San Paulo, I know I know, but that was all there was in HH back in 2003.

First visit was for suspected Heart attack.

On entering the hospital my wife was asked "can you pay" the wife slapped a wad of 100,000 Baht on the reception desk and I was taken into an examination room for an ECG. The machine was one with those outdated suction cup sensors which kept popping off. No doctor had seen me up to that point.
ECG did not show anything other than the problems of a previous heart attack in 2000.

They admitted me to a room for the night and I had to demand a blood test to see if I had any enzymes from dying heart muscle. (This would be a standard test in a decent A&E department) but not it seems in San Paulo.
When I got to see a "doctor" I knew more about MI's than he did.

I was given a 75mg aspirin (should have been 300mg) and a nights stay in hospital. Food (soup) was lousy, so wife went to night market to get me some chicken.

I left the next morning without bothering to see the Doc, as he was a waste of a freshly laundered white coat.

Bill was around 24000Baht.

Second time was for a very bad and prolonged bout of diarrhoea.

The Doc was good, spoke good English and after having a sample tested, treated me with High doses of Bacteria. Job done.

Bill came to 400 baht for tests and diagnosis and 900Baht for tablets (12). I later discovered the tabs can be bought over the counter fo 60 baht for 100.

I can't comment on the BKK hospitals but I suspect they are much better.

[margaretcarnes]

Very variable experiences, so I won't tick any boxes - but needless to say at SP a total mis-understanding of the problem, with a prescription for the exact opposite of what was needed.

At the Bangkok Christian Hospital - excellent, fast, and efficient treatment for minimal cost of the drug needed.

For Him Indoors - very good range of tests and understanding of the problem at Pranburi Military Hospital. Test results actually arrived in the post as promised!

[MwD]

My experience of hospitals in Thailand are varied as has already been mentioned, so difficult to complete the survey. Luckily I haven't had any serious issues to deal with yet !

SP in Hua Hin as most people know is a terrible hospital and appears to only want to make money with little regard for ones health. The competence of the staff is also very questionable. I've heard many horror stories and would avoid SP if at all possible. Hopefully when Bangkok Hospital arrives, we will have a better alternative locally.

My son was born in the government run Hua Hin hospital, and my wife was happy enough with the
service, although there were no complications with the birth. Being a government hospital, I would imagine funds are scarce and therefore reflected in the service.

Pranburi hospital has a much better reputation, but I haven't been there to comment.

Bumrungrad, in Bangkok has been the best hospital I've been too and was very satisfied with service.
In terms of service, its very hit and miss until you discover the good ones from the bad ones.

[stgrhe]

Pranburi hospital has a much better reputation, but I haven't been there to comment.

I suppose you are referring to the military hospital as Pran Buri hospital is another, and small, local hospital.

[richard]

My experience of Thai hospitals is as follows:

San Paulo-----------crap. Over priced, misdiagnosed, overloaded with unnecessary expensive medication

Polyclinic------------albiet not a hospital but sound and anything out of the ordinary referable to Petcharat

Petcharat-----------efficient, good after care, cheap.

Bumrungrad---------saved my life twice, excellent on all fronts but expensive

Khon Khaen --------efficient and fast service, cheap, competent on all fronts and Doctors willing to consult your previous doctors for advice

Sansun-------------way out in the sticks of Isaan but efficient, very very cheap also eager to refer you to KK if the diagnosis was uncertain or they did not have the skills to treat your ailment

I cannot complain except for SP. Think the punter though has to have a bit of savvy and if uncertain go for a second opinion. Also I think you firmly have to refuse the medication and make a note and buy it if needed at the Pharmacy

SP deliberately rip. Took a friend there recently who ended up face down in Poonsuk (slightly drunk and not au faite with Thai pavements and potholes)and needed 20 stitches in his face. On arrival I presented his passport, medical card and some sort of insurance card. 20 stitches, 1 night stop over for observation. 25000Bht.

A word of caution. If you are an inpatient they will attempt not to release before 12 noon as that then counts as an extra night. So half check yourself out and sit in the corridor Also count the number of times you see the doctor AND check that he/she is a fully qualified doctor. SP use senior nurses at night and pass them off as doctors

[Johan]

San Paulo misdiagnosed my wife's problem, 24 hours more and she was dead. Lucky she decided to go to Bangkok for a double check, she was admitted in urgency for surgery. In Sao Paulo they said she was pregnang without any problem...

This hospital is shit, they also admitted my baby with 44.5° fever and when i asked them what is the problem they said : "nothing, everything is fine, he's just hot".

Just hot with 44.5° fever ? What a joke... The bill was something like 25 000 Bahts...

[Big Boy]

I know that I'm the exception (we've discussed this many times before) but I can't fault San Paulo. My wife, son and I have used them for minor injuries/ailments many times over the years. Never had any complaint.

Personally, I've been treated there free of charge on 2 occassions. My wife and son have been treated free as well. When we have been charged, I have always been disappointed ie the cost has never exceeded the insurance surcharge (£50), so I couldn't claim a thing back

I can not make any comment on how prepared they are to treat serious problems.

[Big Boy]

San Paulo misdiagnosed my wife's problem, 24 hours more and she was dead. Lucky she decided to go to Bangkok for a double check, she was admitted in urgency for surgery. In Sao Paulo they said she was pregnang without any problem...

This hospital is shit, they also admitted my baby with 44.5° fever and when i asked them what is the problem they said : "nothing, everything is fine, he's just hot".

Just hot with 44.5° fever ? What a joke... The bill was something like 25 000 Bahts...

Johan, you have clearly had bad experiences with San Paulo - I'm pleased things worked out well for you - eventually.

What puzzles me is why did you go back there with your son after they had made such serious errors with your wife?

Likewise richard, you rated

San Paulo-----------crap. Over priced, misdiagnosed, overloaded with unnecessary expensive medication

Yet when your friend, "Ended up face down in Poonsuk (slightly drunk and not au faite with Thai pavements and potholes)and needed 20 stitches in his face," you took him to San Paulo - why?

If the hospital is so bad, surely you all be boycotting the place, not putting good money after bad. These are the lives of your friends and relatives that you are dealing with. If nobody was using the place, they'd soon have to sit up and take notice - or go bust.

[Johan]

If your baby is hot with 44.5° fever you can't just start looking arround for another hospital, you go as fast as possible to the hospital you know. I don't know where is another hospital and this one is already 7 KM from my home, it's a lot of kilometers to do when your baby is going to die. He stayed 3 or 4 nights at Sao Paulo and they didn't take care of anything, lucky for them he didn't die. I only saw the doctor 1 time for 20 secs, i asked him a few questions but he was too busy to answer, so he said "he's ok, just hot".

This people aren't doctors, believe me.

[usual suspect]

SHARED ROOM - BUMRUNGRAD..9,000B/DAY
PRIVATE ROOM HUA HIN HOSPITAL..1100B/DAY
Ya dont wanna be in BKK to long without insurance do you..?
(Hua Hin much better room & after-care than I got at B'grad...honest)
Operation I needed in B'grad BKK...350,000b. Luckily Insurance flew me back to UK,& dare I say the NHS
have done a great job on a very delicate task...I will always try keep the 'fly back to Blighty' option open in the future...+ take more care when driving.

[lomuamart]

I've been admitted to San Paulo twice, once for 3 days and once for 10 after a bad motorcycle accident.
I have to say that on both occasions they were fine. The first time they were pumping me full of antibiotics so it was difficult to go wrong. The second time they just had to make sure the injury didn't get infected.
The 3 day stay cost me about 9,000 (that was 10 or so years ago) and the 10 day stay was over 100,000 but luckily the young Thai chap who'd smashed into my wife's bike stopped and his insurance paid.
I'm aware of all the horror stories that others have related over the years and I would be concerned if I had something wrong internally. But for my situations, they were fine.

[Takiap]

Johan, if my kids had a temperature like that, the first person I would see would be the doctor at the Samet clinic. We've used him several times and he really is a good doctor. You just need to see how busy he gets to know that he has obviously won a lot of peoples trust. He seems to deal with kids only, although I did get him to sort me out once, and if I might add, he fixed me up immediately, even after the Poly Clinic and San Paulo had failed. If you kid's got such a high temperature, he would at least be able to try and control it until you get your child to a hospital.

San Paulo - I've go in through their doors twice, and there certainly won't be a third time. Even their double pricing sucks. Why should a Thai woman married to a Farang have to pay more to give birth than a Thai woman married to a Thai. After all, it's not the Farang man having the child.

Around here, you'll either need to trust Hua-Hin hospital, or if you can make it, get yourself to Petcharat hospital.

[MwD]

Yes I was referring to the miltary hosiptal in Pran Buri.