Hospitals and Healthcare in Thailand
Thailand is the focus for expatriates needing medical care in Cambodia Laos and Burma, due to the fact that Bangkok in particular has very good standards of healthcare in comparison with its neighbours. A fairly wide range of private medical facilities are available, some of which seem more like large hotels than hospitals.
Many doctors in these facilities have some kind of training in the West and have some command of the English language. There is also an element of medical tourism in Thailand due to the good value for money Thailand's healthcare system offers in comparison with more expensive countries.
Bangkok has the lion's share of top flight hospitals but if you're based in more rural locations, you will find it very hard to find a doctor that you can communicate effectively with as English is not widely spoken. That said, I have personally found hospitals in provincial capitals to have quite a high standard and many smaller local hospital tend to refer westerners to the bigger provincial centres for more complex ailments. Hospitals in Thailand are easy to spot due to the large green cross placed high up on the building.
However, some expats have reported poor organisation in Thailand's private hospitals, even with big name well known places in Bangkok and many patients prefer to go to Singapore for treatment, where medical care is considered more reliable and better organised. Others have reported private hospitals recommending treatment or hospital stays that were simply not necessary. This is only hearsay and cannot be confirmed. Pricing in big private hospitals is almost always fixed and you often pay in advance.
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Emergency services are not what you would expect. Heart attack victims for example, have difficulty obtaining emergency treatment as Bangkok does not have an established emergency transport system to speak of.
Overall, Thailand offers fairly good standards in healthcare. The most famous expat hospital in Bangkok is Bumrungrad but you are certainly not limited to that choice as there are plenty to choose from. See our forum for more details.
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