My (Brief) Experience With Medical Tourism
Many times when diving water will get into the ear canal as a result of your ear being saturated with water, causing difficulty hearing. After my last dive I was having some difficulty hearing and thought that perhaps it was simply water still caught in my ear canal, so naturally I felt like I should clean it out. Bad idea. I used a cue-tip to try and clean out the ear, however, after soaking in water and being in the heat the skin in my ear was quite soft and fragile. I must have dug a bit too deep and a bit hard, because what resulted was a cut, which as I found out developed into an infection. This is quite common with swimmers and divers and in fact is called Swimmer’s Ear. The infection causes a swelling of the ear canal, causing muffled hearing and great pain, which in my case has spread into my jaw and face. I tried a few home remedies to clean out my ear, thinking it was still just water or wax build up and they helped very little. As the pain worsened I decided that it was time I visit a doctor. But, I’m in Bangkok, where am I going to find a doctor that I can trust?
Thank Goodness for Ladyboys
It turns out Thailand is one of the most popular countries for Medical Tourism. The reason? Ladyboys. This is the place you come to let out that inner woman and show her to the world. You might be thinking, how many ladyboys could there possibly be? Well, a walk down Bangkok’s streets (or when I think about it nearly everywhere I’ve been in Thailand) will reveal to you that openly gay in Thailand is a bit more ambiguous than back in the States. However, medical tourism isn’t all breast implants and..well, you get the rest… Medical tourism for all fields is growing quite rapidly as healthcare costs skyrocket in the United States and other developing countries. As I discovered, I was lucky to find myself in Bangkok when looking for a doctor.
Where to Go?
After checking online it appeared that there were two quite prominent international hospitals in Bangkok. Bumrungrad International and the International Wing of Bangkok Hospital. They receive something to the effect of 400,000 and 250,000 medical tourists each year respectively. Many of the doctors are US or EU trained and these stats boosted my confidence. Later that night in the guest house I met a guy from San Diego who told me that was precisely why he was there and told me how to get to Bumrungrad, it turned out it was only a few blocks from my guesthouse. I was able to check online and with more than 30 doctors in the EENT division alone I was pretty happy with trying it out.
Entering the Hospital
Upon entering the hospital you are greeted by two women and the standard, “Sawasdeeka,” or good-day. The hospital looks quite modern and the faint hospital smell is masked by an overriding odor of capitalism. I tell the women that I am having trouble with my ear. I can barely hear but I am directed to the third floor. I reconfirm that this is the EENT division and quickly ascend the escalators to the 3rd floor. On the way I pass the Heart Center, where I see an overweight western woman coming out. I continue down the hall to the EENT center, tell them I need to them to check my ear. I realize they can hardly hear me, but to me it sounds like I’m yelling at them. I repeat myself and they ask me to fill out a few forms. These take less than 5 minutes to fill out while I’m standing at the counter. A copy of my passport is all they needed to get me into the system. Not more than 1 minute after I take my seat I receive a Bumrungrad Patient Card for future visits and I’m escorted to get my temperature, blood pressure, height and weight taken. I’m pretty sure the scale a bit off because it said I had lost about 15 pounds and other than my ear I don’t feel like I’m about to die…Anyways, after they complete the checklist I’m told to sit and wait for the doctor. Here we go, I thought, now I’m going to be waiting forever. This is why I went to the hospital at 9:00 am. I figured that getting registered at a new hospital, seeing the doctor, figuring out payment – you know all that jazz would take about a full day. In fact I was worried I might miss picking up my passport at the Indian Consulate later on that day at 4:00 pm. Well, again it wasn’t more than 3 minutes before I was called into Mr. Khemchart Tonsakuurungruang’s office. It turns out this guys experience was nearly as long as his name, so I was in pretty good hands. He took a look, did a quick cleaning and I was sent out with my bill and my prescription.
The Billing Nightmare
I headed out of the office and down the hall where billing and prescriptions are handled. You first take the bill to the counter and receive a number, which is promptly called – in fact there’s a sign that says if you wait more than 15 minutes to just go up anyways. My number is called in mere seconds. I hand the paperwork to the cashier. After a bit of banging away at the keyboard she shows me the amount and asks me if I’d like to pay in Thai Baht or US Dollars. I say dollars and I take a look at the total – $71.40. Does this include prescriptions?, I ask. Yes it does. $71.40! She swipes my card and I head over to the Pharmacy counter and they hand me my prescriptions and I’m off. I take a look at the clock – 9:40 am. Sorry for the misleading title, but this is really the nightmare. I had my whole day planned at the hospital and it only took 40 minutes. What was I going to do?
The thing I found the most ironic about the situation was that on the Bumrungrad website they list American Management as one of their key factors. American management I thought, maybe we can get some of that back in America…
