Health Care in Thailand : Hospitals in Bangkok

Entrance to Bumrungrad Hospital. Very popular with foreigners the hospital is accessible through soi 1 and soi 3 on Sukhumvit Road.

About Hospitals in Bangkok - Some comments

We have experience with Bumrungrad Hospital (Sukhumvit Road) and Bangkok General Hospital (Petchaburi Road). Both cater to foreign patients and are all set up for that.
The technical equipment and expertise is all there. For instance, it is not difficult to get an MRI of your brain of limbs if necessary, while at least in some so called developed countries in Europe, this is not always possible.
We had some surgery, requiring epidural anesthesia on two occasions. The procedures involved are very well organized, and you will feel in good hands altogether when going for treatment. You may not see the doctor as often as in Europe or the U.S. (see above), but the nursing staff will give you ample attention, so much so that it might be difficult to get a good sleep in hospital, because they seem to turn up around the clock to check on your condition.
The price of treatment seems to be well fixed, and not at random. You will be told before treatment how much it will costs, you pay in advance. Small additional costs or reimbursements are handled before discharge. The doctor's fees are not particularly low, although less than what you would pay in Europe and certainly the U.S. What is astonishing are the low costs for nursing care, the room etc. Estimate your room and nursing costs for about 3,000-6,000 baht a day only. So if you are uncertain and uncomfortable leaving the hospital soon, and being confined to your hotel room, just try to stay a little bit longer in the hospital, where you do not have to worry too much, in case some small additional problem occurs.
Outpatient treatment is also well organized in the well reputed hospitals mentioned above. At least here you will not have to pay in advance. The doctor's fee will be in the 500-800 bath range (may have risen now though). Some more fees : a standard chest X-ray about 250 baht, electrocardiogram 500 baht, MRI (including radiologist fee) about 10,000 baht, standard blood examination (including lipid profile) about 3000-4000 baht.
Bumrungrad prides itself on having quite a few food and drinks outlets on its mezzanine floor. You will find an Au Bon Pain outlet (the best bagels in town), a Starbucks, but unfortunately also a McDonald's. We seriously think a hospital should not include a fast food chain like McDonald's in its services. McDonald's likely is the world's biggest retail distributor of trans fatty acids, directly contributing to heart disease. It is always a bit painful to see families with young children 'enjoy' hamburgers and french fries while walking past at Bumrungrad. I do not mind so much the adults having a hamburger, it is their free choice. But certainly, it is irresponsible to offer this food to your offspring.
Even McDonald's should not want to associate itself with anything related to 'health' in our opinion.

Samitivej Hospital (part of the Bangkok General Hospital Group) is upmarket and is another health care provider for foreign residents of Thailand. It is located about 3 km into soi 49, Sukhumvit Road.

Though having otherwise up-to-date facilities and offering a pleasant environment, Bumrungrad Hospital clearly fails in 'access and transportation'. Getting to the hospital from either Soi 1 or Soi 3 on Sukhumvit Road can be a slow process. Some staff seem to be working as traffic police when trying to entry or exit the hospital at Soi 3. However, they do not attempt to provide any service for pedestrians (and there are quite a few visitors to the hospital who actually walk there) wanting to cross the road.
Annoying is also that reaching certain floors of Bumrungrad can be a bit difficult. Possibly in an attempt to entice doctors, patients and visitors to exercise, it looks like the slowest available elevator service has been installed in the hospital. We have been there quite a few times, mostly as a visitor, and it not uncommon to have to wait a full 10 minutes before an elevator arrives, and then to take a ride with the elevator stopping on the way down or up, on every single floor. Not even the simplest computer-guided aide to provide a more convenient service seems to be installed.

We have also experience with Bangkok Christian Hospital on Silom Road. This is a smaller hospital, but the standard doctor's fees are much lower than mentioned above. Recent physicians' fees (july 2007) seem to be 400 baht for a first visit and 300 baht for follow-up visits. Like all other hospitals they will charge you an additional 80 baht or so to use the facility (under 'other charges') So if you have minor ailments, like a persistent cold, stomach upset, skin rash etc. this much cheaper facility can be recommended.
We recently had our 'lipid profile' checked at Bangkok Christian Hospital, at a cost of just 500 baht (HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides). The same test at Bumrungrad hospital costs about 1,200 baht. [prices do not include visit to physician to discuss results]

BNH Hospital is part of the Bangkok Hospital Group. It is located in Convent road. Facilities do not closely look as new or flashy as the facilities at Bumrungrad Hospital or Bangkok General Hospital. Prices for outpatient services though seem to be at similar levels. Since it is affiliated with Bangkok General, its medical facilities more likely than not are quite up-to-date, but we never were an inpatient or had intensive investigations there.
What is good about this smaller hospital is that it is not too far walking distance from the Silom BTS station and Silom subway station. Bumrungrad Hospital (although one could walk from Nana or Phloenchit BTS skytrain station) and certainly Bangkok General Hospital kind of necessitate a taxi ride.

One other hospital (we have no personal experience here) often used by foreigners and in the upper price range bracket is Samitivej Hospital, located in Sukhumvit Soi 49.

List of hospital-websites | List of Cosmetic Surgery providers

BNH Hospital (formerly knows as Bangkok Nursing Home) is part of the Bangkok General Hospital Group. It is located in Convent Road (connecting road between Silom Road and Sathorn Road, Bangkok)

Heart Scans
The health conscious among you may have noticed the frontpage (at least in Thailand) article in TIME dd. September 5, 2005. In it various potential exams of the heart, their benefits and suitability are described. It so happens that soon after this publication, Bangkok Heart Hospital (part of Bangkok General Hospital) took out a full page advertisement in the Bangkok Post to indicate that they are providing 64-slice CT scans of the heart. On contacting the hospital heart hotline to get information about this procedure, we were told we should first see a cardiologist, get examined, and have our kidney function checked. We were advised to not eat prior to the exam (for the kidney function, we assume). Costs (not including doctor's fees) would be around 16,000 baht.
For your information, we are talking about 64-slice CT scans of the heart. This exam, aided by high speed x-ray computer technology, provides quite accurate and precise visualizations of the heart and the coronary arteries. Supposedly nearly as good as a coronary angiography.

So this exam is available for what could be considered a reasonable price. It is a difficult issue to consider in our opinion whether one is advised to get this exam when not having cardiac symptoms, and having undergone less expensive evaluations of the heart. Conclusions may be that there are no obvious narrowings of the coronary arteries, and that can be a relief to many people of a certain age, especially when they have been smoking or eating a poor diet for the whole of their life. Problems arise when abnormalities are found. What to do about it? Of course, there are clearcut indications to do something in certain severe, up to then not realized conditions.
On the other hand, quite possilbly some abnormalities can be found, without the examined person having any symptoms and leading a normal life. To find abnormalities can be good if it convinces people to stop smoking, start exercising etc. Whether it is good to have further treatment, especially invasive procedures such as coronary stenting, bypass surgery is a totally different matter. To put it simple, according to available knowledge, it is not so that any narrowing of the coronary arteries needs to be 'fixed', there may be a choice of therapies, including just medication. However, in a setting where money is involved, there may be a tendency to push people into undergoing invasive treatments. This depends also to a large extent on the doctor who is treating you, and whether he is 'conservative' or 'interventionist'. It is always possible to get the results and get a second opinion, if in doubt.
But for those who where already thinking of having this exam, possibly you can get it done cheaper here in Bangkok!
[Bangkok Heart Hospital can be called at 66(0) 1 375 2222 - 66(0) 9 814 7064]

Other hospitals also provide 64-Slice CT scanning of the heart and other organs. We found the procedure is also done at Bumrungrad Hospital and Praram 9 Hospital.
You can read more about it here (info provided by Bumrungrad Hospital)

Related articles about health issues : Hospitals in Bangkok (this page) | Dental Services | Eye Clinics | Pharmacies | Shortcomings of Thai Healthcare
More : Medical Tourism in Thailand | Health Statistics | Cost of Medical Treatment in Thailand

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