Years Of Pattaya Nightlife, And Hospital Visits

The story concerns my experiences at three of Pattaya’s private hospitals during the 15 years I have spent European Winters in my condo in Pattaya.

The main hospital in Pattaya is Pattaya City hospital.

I think that’s mainly for Thais, though maybe it does treat foreigners.

The hospitals I’ve experienced are the two small hospitals near Beach Road, one on Soi Five and one on Soi Seven, and the large Bangkok Pattaya hospital to the north of Pattaya.

I attended one of the smaller hospitals for an anti-rabies treatment following a dog bite from one of Pattaya’s many, not always friendly, Soi dogs.

I went to the other one when I had severe food poisoning and had to spend a night on a drip in a hospital ward.

On my last trip, I went to the Bangkok Pattaya hospital for investigation of a possible brain tumor.

I’m not medically trained, so can only make some general comments about the treatment I received.

However, I was married to a cancer surgeon for over 20 years, and during that time, I did pick up a few bits of medical knowledge most people wouldn’t necessarily know about.

Impressions of Thailand Hospital Service

My general impression of the two smaller hospitals was that they were friendly and professional, but they were more like large outpatient clinics rather than full-service hospitals.

They did have a few pieces of kit like x-ray machines and labs for analyzing blood tests, but you probably wouldn’t want to use them for anything serious.

In fact, it was a doctor at one of the smaller hospitals who advised me to go to the Bangkok Pattaya hospital for investigation of why I was suddenly getting severe headaches.

When I first arrived at the Bangkok Hospital, there seemed to be a disorganized crowd hanging around the information desk.

But after about 10 minutes, I spoke to one of the staff, and within less than an hour, I was been seen by a neurologist.

He planned a series of tests, including an MRI scan and MRA scan.

Both of these are done on an MRI with scanner, which is a serious bit of equipment costing over 1 million pounds, 1.2 million US dollars, or 1.2 million euros.

The tests and scans were booked for the next day, a Saturday, and would have been given the results that day, except the Saturday was a neurologist’s day off.

So, I went back on the Sunday to get the results.

Thankfully, they showed that what’s left of my brain, in spite of my valiant efforts over many years to support the Chang Brewing Company and Pattaya nightlife, is totally normal.

The day of the tests and scans were superbly well-organized, with very attractive nurses or nursing assistants waiting for me at the end of each stage to take me on to the next stage.

The Bangkok Pattaya hospital was not like being in the Thailand we all know and love, which works to Thai Time, where people sleep most of the time at work and where someone could do something the wrong way, they’ll do it wrong at least five times before getting it right.

The hospital was really well run.

I would highly recommend it.

I don’t know how healthcare works in European countries or the USA or Australia, but I know that if I had tried to be treated in England, I would have had to wait a couple of weeks before seeing a doctor.

The doctor would then write a referral to a specialist at my local hospital, which might take a couple of months longer before I could see the specialist.

Then there would be another couple of weeks before I could get the x-rays, blood tests, and scans.

Finally, there could be a further couple of weeks before I could get an appointment with a specialist to review the results.

So, the process which took the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital just two days could take several months in England.

If you’re being investigated for a possible serious condition like a brain tumor, you really don’t want months of anxiety while waiting for appointments, tests, and results.

Of course, all of this would be free in the UK, but for the x-rays, blood test, MRI, and MRA scans, and two appointments with a neurologist at the Bangkok Pattaya hospital, I paid around 900 pounds, or a thousand US dollars, or a thousand euros.

This was reimbursed by my travel insurance company on my return to the UK.

Just to give you a further idea of prices, an appointment with a general doctor at the two smaller hospitals cost me just 800 Baht, about 20 pounds or 20 US dollars or 20 euros.

Each appointment with the neurologist cost 1,600 Baht, about 40 pounds, 45 US dollars, and 45 euros.

One of the Thai government business strategies is to make Thailand the go-to destination for people from around the world for medical procedures.

From what I experienced at the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, I know that if I was put on a waiting list in the UK for months for a knee or hip or even cancer operation, I’d be straight on a plane to Thailand and check into one of the main hospitals in Bangkok or Pattaya, which cater for foreigners as their equipment and standard of care are, from what I experienced, excellent.

The only minor complaint I would make was that when it came to paying for the treatment and visiting the hospital pharmacies for medication, we were back onto Thai Time and Thai organization.