Barely 4 hours into spring break, we made first hospital trip in our 7 months here. Poor Riley, 3 stitches in the knee. If only we hadn't excused her from the dinner table. Her friend was sleeping over, and we were dining at an outdoor restaurant with our driver Muk & his visiting family for a holiday meal. After eating, the girls & Muk's granddaughter played tag and Ry's knee met graveled pavement... the joys of being almost 8.
We have a sweetheart driver. Khun Muk insisted on taking us to hospital. Loyal, loyal, loyal. His wife & granddaughter are visiting a couple days to kick off holiday. He sees them just a handful of times during the year, as they live several hours away while he and his adult son stay in a small place & work in our area. Felt bad, this night was supposed to be a nice, relaxing start to holiday week for him. We're driving ourselves to the island next week.
We had a surprisingly pleasant hospital experience and my critical eye was pleased with what I saw during our quick ER hour. We did go to the private international hospital, not a local Thai one. Walked through the door and immediately started getting worked on without much triage or paperwork. No wait for the nearby X-ray room to rule out foreign objects in wound. 10 minutes later, cleaning it up & stitching shut. Very infection conscious, everything used seemed sterile & came from new packaging. Even with shiny sealed wrappers, in Thailand you never know, but this hospital has good reputation. Doctor had decent English, staff the basics. Simple, reasonable discharge instructions. "Oopps, we forgot to have you sign the consent for treatment form, please sign here"... this after she was all stiched up & we were heading out the door. Frivvy lawsuits aren't the fancy in Thailand, so not as necessary of a form as back home.
Walk just outside the ER area, pay cashier at one window. Waiting at next window are anitbiotic & tylenol, perfectly labeled with her name... not prescriptions for, but the actual medicine... and they were already included in the cost we had paid to cashier. Smooth, smooth, smooth.
A day later, my only slight disappointment is with the price paid. "Madame... is 5,000TB okay?" That's how our bill was presented. Sure, whatever we need to pay to fix her up, here's the dough. Ry's knee only translated to $150US. But after talking with expat friends this morn, we were charged through the nose last night. Like many things in Thailand, healthcare costs, too, can be bartered, and I should have offered half. Live and learn, just glad to have her healing well. Thankful for the opportunity to naively pay inflated Thai cost, I do so all the time back home. Allie had a few stitches to the same knee a couple years ago in the States... over $300, horrible experience & sewing job.
Ry's friend here had emergency appendix surgery (fine experience her mom recounts... and just a tiny, tiny scar Ry reports) with 2 nights in the same hospital, and bill was $600US, TOTAL! Back home, you could barely get anesthesia for that amount. It's easy to see why so many foreigners flock here to retire & why medical tourism is taking off. A nice arrangement if you're generally healthy. Don't know that I'd want to deal with cancer or weightier health issues here, or treatment in a local clinic/hospital. But our short tango with international hospital scene was quite impressive, and at least for basic acute care, has us pondering which system is the developing one???
2 days later, Ry appears to be healing nicely & is her usual happy self. Thankful, thankful, thankful.
