How Hospitals work in Thailand

January 20th afternoon Thai time

I am now out of the hospital you so can all breathe easy.  As you have read, I have been sick since Monday.  I was trying to tough it out but there was no turning back.  I needed medical treatment and that was that.

Don was also not well so off we went to McCormick Hospital in Chiang Mai.    We check in with Urgent Care just like in an American hospital (fill out a bunch of forms, weight, blood pressure), you know the regular triage.   I see the doctor within 15 minutes of being in the hospital.  She wants to immediately admit me.  What the heck?  I thought I would need a little IV, get rehydrated and go home.  Getting admitted was the farthest thing from my mind.  I have a flight to Bangkok in the morning.  I can’t stay...

I ended up staying.  First it was traversing what type of room that I was willing to pay for.  I am shown a book with a bunch of numbers.  Neither of the nurses speaks English and my Thai is limited to pleasantries.  I am told that the room rate is in US dollars not Thai Baht.  There is a HUGE difference.  I am told a regular room is $250 and a private room is $1500.  Since I have to pay when I leave I choose the regular room.  Big mistake.  I ended up on a ward in a room with 8 people and the beds are basically end to end.  Greg was with me so he called Mark to help with translation so that we could get something more comfortable.  Come to find out the room was 1500 baht that equals $50 US dollars.  I ask for and get the private room.

That was so much better.  Here am I in my room.  It was much more comfortable.  I am so dehydrated that the nurses could not find a vein for the IV.  Once that is done I settle in for the evening.   The doctor stated that she (okay, can I just say my doctor was smoking hot) would try to get me released for my morning flight to Bangkok.  After an IV and 5 rounds of IV antibiotics I start feeling human again.  I even eat a little breakfast – a piece of wheat toast, a hardboiled egg and a cup of hot tea.  It says with me.  YEAH!  Now I am off to pay the bill.  It was 5,275 Baht.   This equals about $174 in US dollars.  So the private room with TV and minibar with all the prescriptions given at the hospital and that I left with (I will be taking pills until the day I get home) cost $174.  Amazing…

We are now off to the airport for the flight to Bangkok.