My (Brief) Experience With Medical Tourism Pt. 2
For some reason every time I have some infection I wind up in Bangkok. After successfully freaking myself out with the wrong diagnosis (the only symptoms and pictures I could find that matched mine were the beginnings of leprosy…haha) I figured I should get this little thing checked out. So of course, where else did I go but Bumrungrad International Hospital!
I know you didn’t possibly think it could get better from the last time, but this feat of human ingenuity is so incredible that it became quite obvious to me that our species could in fact have made it to the moon. Kroger, Safeway, Marsh and the latest addition to my wallet, Bumrungrad. What could I possibly be talking about? ‘Loyalty’ cards. I was given one the last time I registered at Bumrungrad and it made health care easily as enjoyable as grocery shopping.
How it Started
I was in Siem Reap, Cambodia sleeping in a dorm for $1 a night (I mean, really you can’t beat $1 a night). Upon checkout I felt this great travelers pride that my bill after 5 days was only $5 and the guy next to me had a bill for at least 6 times the amount. A few days later and I’m left with a wonderful reminder of that little right of passage.
A few days ago I woke up and I had a small round rash above my elbow and a what looked like a cut and a scab below my elbow, both on my left arm. When I lift my arm the two areas touch each other, so it was my assumption that the rash was transferrable through contact…not a good sign I thought, but maybe it wasn’t from contact. Really there was little that was out of the ordinary that I could see. Well, other than that scabs don’t just happen overnight and normally I could know if I had been cut. So I decided that maybe I just hadn’t noticed it and perhaps it happened when I had been climbing around the sandstone of Angkor Wat.
I decided to let it be and I put a little Polysporin cream on the wound. Two days later the rash had grown and was covered with blisters. That’s when I figured this was a little bit more than a simple scrape. Luckily and partially as a result I’m here in Bangkok, enjoying medical tourism for yet another time.
Back at the Bum
That brings me to my experience and my card. ‘Have you been here before?’ the receptionist asked in the dermatology department. Why yes I have! I hand her my ‘loyalty’ card and before I know it I’m checked in and having a discussion with the doc. I get the diagnosis. I guess it’s some strange bug bite whose toxin has seeped into my skin and was transferred to my upper arm through contact. Before I know it, I have my ointments and I’m out of there!
My whole time at the hospital was around 25 minutes and my bill came to under $40! So in a little over a month they’ve managed to knock almost 50% off my bill and my time!!! My god, that is some good American Management!
