Thai vs Australian Health System: A 17 Year Perspective

I have been married to a Thai for 17 years and have traveled to Thailand 28 times so I’ve had frequent interactions with the Thai health system dental visits doctor’s appointments surgery and emergency procedures. I also worked in the Australian public health system for 13 years so I’m very familiar with both health systems.

I recently read an article on SBS News that found that your first visit to a dentist involving just a checkup and an X-ray with no actual dental work taking place costs between 300 and 400 Australian dollars depending on what state you live in. I might also add that you could wait anywhere between a week and a month to see a dentist in Australia.

Compare this to Thailand where a dental checkup in Bangkok is free and you can see a dentist at 9:00 p.m. at night immediately no problem at all without an appointment. My Bangkok dentist charges about 700 baht for a filling 1000 baht for descaling and cleaning 1000 baht for a tooth extraction and 10,000 baht for wisdom teeth extraction. To have this done in Australia would be approximately $200 for a filling $150 for descaling $250 to $400 for an extraction and $1400 to $2500 for wisdom teeth extraction. Naturally if we need dental care we have it done in Thailand and our trips to Thailand always include an obligatory dentist visit just in case.

Medical Care in Australia

A few months ago I was in a lot of pain with my shoulder. I couldn’t sleep with the pain; I couldn’t move my arm. I tried to make an appointment with my usual doctor. He had no available appointments until 3 weeks. I contacted another doctor’s surgery and was told either that they were not taking on new patients or an appointment would be available in at least two weeks or wouldn’t be available at all. After much ringing around I found a doctor who could see me in a couple of days.

My Thai wife was furious as she kept saying “In Thailand a doctor would see you right away. I don’t understand why your health system here is so bad.”

After seeing the doctor I was referred for an ultrasound. I couldn’t get an ultrasound appointment for 2 weeks. I did a lot of ringing around and eventually found a clinic that could do it in 3 days. The ultrasound revealed that partial shoulder tendon tears and calcium deposits were causing my substantial pain. Another doctor’s appointment next I was told I would need an ultrasound guided injection into my shoulder joint and removal of the calcium deposits at the same time.

The city where I live has a population of around 70,000 people and there were no available appointments for the ultrasound injection for 6 weeks. I was in a lot of pain so I asked if there was any way it could be done sooner. The answer was yes if you drive 50 km to another city you could have it done in 3 days. Short answer was yes I will go to the other city and I received the treatment I needed.

Did all these medical dramas make us think we should just fly to Thailand? To answer truthfully yes it would have been easier and quicker if we had had medical treatment in Thailand.

Emergency Treatment in Thailand

I got very sick with asthma in rural Thailand and was having difficulty breathing. We drove to Nakhon Sawan and arrived at a large private hospital at 8:30 p.m. on a Sunday night. I was seen within 15 minutes by a doctor who arranged an X-ray PCR test and then had me treated to ease my congestion and open up my airways. I then was seen by the doctor again and she discussed the X-ray which had been reported on by a radiologist and I was discharged with all the medication I required.

From entering the hospital receiving treatment and leaving it took 80 minutes and cost around $150 including medication.

At the hospital where I worked in Australia it can take 3 to 4 hours just to be seen by a doctor in an emergency department and there is no way you would have a radiologist report on the same day. Try a week if you are lucky.

On another occasion I got a bad asthma attack in rural Thailand and went to a public hospital. I was seen immediately and given treatment medication for the princely sum of 200 baht.

Friends Cancer Treatment in Australia

A friend was diagnosed with very aggressive prostate cancer. He was told that his cancer on a scale of 1 to 5 as regards to seriousness and chances of spreading throughout his body was a 5 the most dangerous. Yet in spite of this diagnosis he had to wait 9 months to get a PET scan.

I pleaded with him to go to Thailand and get it done there where they could do the PET scan within a few days. But he insisted on staying in Australia and waited the 9 months. Once the PET scan was done it confirmed the seriousness of his cancer and he had his prostate completely removed after another 6 weeks’ wait and that was as a private patient. He had to pay over $20,000 to get this treatment. He is still waiting to determine if his cancer has spread to other parts of his body.

If he had gone to Thailand it probably would have been done for less than half the price and he would have been treated 9 months earlier and so he could have had a better outcome.

Our Thoughts on Aging

My wife and I have decided if we ever need urgent treatment we will get on a plane immediately and go to Thailand as it isn’t worth the risk to rely on the stretched Australian health care system. When we need care we will move to Thailand permanently as we have no faith in the Australian aged care system. We have insider’s knowledge as my wife works in aged care in Australia. I experienced what aged care was like in Australia through my mother’s care in what is the most exclusive and expensive private nursing home in Brisbane and it wasn’t good.

Story #3 Floaters Retinas and 6100 Baht Another Medical Tale

For the last 10 or so years I have spent the European winters in my condo in Pattaya. During my most recent stay I woke up one morning with large black shapes on one eye. These are called floaters. As you age the gel-like fluid that fills your eye sticks together and casts shadows on your retina the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye. However the sudden appearance of floaters can also be a sign of a detached or damaged retina. In this case you need treatment otherwise you risk losing the sight in that eye.

At just after 9:00 in the morning I rang the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital to ask how I could make an appointment to see a specialist. They told me to come to the hospital whenever I wanted. So I showered took a Bolt car to the hospital. When I arrived and went to the reception I was pleasantly surprised that they knew I was coming and sent me straight up to the right department. There I explained that I was concerned about possible problems with a retina in one eye.

There were quite a lot of other people waiting there and I had to wait for over an hour before seeing a doctor. I found out later that I could have been seen by an eye specialist a little earlier but that I had been booked in with a doctor who specialized in retina issues and who had several other patients to see before me.

When I saw the doctor she sent me off for a series of tests. Then I had to wait another hour being given eye drops every 10 to 15 minutes as these apparently enlarge the retina making it easier for any problems to be identified. After around 3 hours at the hospital the retina specialist informed me that I just had normal floaters which would go away in a few weeks and that there was nothing to worry about.

The whole visit with two sessions with a doctor and all the tests cost me 6100 baht.

I had a similar experience the previous year. I started getting severe headaches and went to Bangkok Pattaya Hospital. Within an hour of arriving there I was being seen by a neurologist and sent for a series of tests MRI and MRA scans and got the results the same day. MRI and MRA scans are pretty serious tests as a scanner typically costs over $1 million (or pounds or euros). I think that visit to the hospital cost me 31,000 baht though my travel insurance paid for everything.