Chiang Mai Thailand Medical Check Up

Whilst undertaking general research prior to our move to Thailand I came across a post on the Thai Visa, http://www.thaivisa.com Chiang Mai forum about this great Thai doctor who conducted a general practice in Chiang Mai. Expats who had visited the doctor wrote glowing reviews about how she treated her patients with real care and concern and how thorough her services were.

Intrigued I Googled the doctor and found her website http://www.healthcaremedicalclinic.com/index.php whereby I located the section where she offered complete medical check ups by gender and age group. The checks and tests were exhaustive and to me well worth the $192AUD price tag.

After discussing it with Annie we decided to make an appointment for a few days after we arrived in Chiang Mai. Annie’s check up was a little more expensive at $177USD as females have several tests that differ from the male tests.

It appears that Annie and I are not alone in our quest to obtain medical services in Thailand as there is a constant influx of people travelling to Thailand to have small and major medical procedures within the Thai health system.

Foreigners seeking treatment for everything from open-heart surgery to gender reassignment have made Thailand the world’s No. 1 destination for so-called medical tourism, luring as many as 1.8 million overseas visitors in 2013. That ranks Thailand, a developing nation with a per capita gross domestic product of just $5,700, ahead of the U.S. -- and also Thailand’s more prosperous Southeast Asian neighbors, Singapore and Malaysia -- as the preferred destination for international patients. Last year, medical tourists pumped as much as $4.7 billion into the Thai economy, according to government statistics.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-18/medical-tourists-flock-to-thailand-spurring-post-coup-economy.html

Chaigmai Ram Hospital

After fasting for 12 hours we headed off for our appointment at Dr Nisachon Morgan’s surgery, which is located on a main road about six kilometers from the centre of Chiang Mai. The surgery is housed in a non-descript building sharing shop fronts with a variety of other businesses. If it wasn’t for the green crosses on banners out front we may have missed the surgery.

Health Care Medical Clinic

The surgery was air-conditioned and we were greeted by a receptionist who took our details and blood pressure. After a few other preliminaries we were both off in separate directions to do our tests.

The EKG machine looked a little past its use by date but it worked and spat out a graph of squiggly lines that only a doctor can interpret. The nurse drew a vial of blood painlessly and I was given a bottle to pee in.

My final stop was with Dr Morgan who is a small woman who speaks perfect English. She was thorough in her questioning about my medical condition and asked a range of searching questions. By far the most exhaustive questioning I have ever had from a medical practitioner. Next came the physical examination, which was also extremely thorough.

Both Annie and I completed out range of tests in around 45 minutes and we both agreed that the service was professional and extensive. The doctor wanted to go over our test results and requested that we come back in two days.

Our return appointment was on a Saturday, which happened to be Children’s Day and the traffic was horrendous. Our driver went miles out of her way to avoid traffic but only ended up getting caught in a larger traffic jam. The end result was that we were 30 minutes late for our appointment, which meant we were shuffled back to the end of the line.

Children's Day Chiang Mai

After an almost two hour wait we both went in to see Dr Morgan who had our tests results in front of her. In turn she went through each of our reports in minute detail. She highlighted what we needed to be doing to improve our health and lifestyle and what things we were doing right. Both Annie and I left the room with a clear indication of what we needed to do to maintain our health.

A quirk of Thailand is that medical practitioners write prescriptions on a piece of paper that has been photocopied. There is no control number or anything that appears to regulate prescriptions. The drugs are located in the front office and the receptionist hands out the drugs from an open display behind her desk. The drugs that we were given were all manufactured in Thailand and were probably 30-40% cheaper than comparable drugs in Australia.

We delivered one of our samples late so couldn’t get the results on the day of our follow up visit but just a day later we received an email with all the test results and observations.

For around $200 both Annie and I received a complete and thorough medical check up which included a number of prescribed drugs. Dr Morgan was caring and thorough and had a lovely manner. On both of our visits her waiting room was busy with foreigners so the word must be out that she is a great doctor.