Chiang Mai Ram Hospital Visit

admin — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 01:40:05 +0000

Originally posted on Travel Asia - Travel Europe| Bangkok to Krakow.com

Photo from Flickr by: jcestnik

We knew Chiang Mai Ram Hospital existed. Did not have any plans to visit it though. At the outset let me say everyone is doing just fine. Last Thursday afternoon our little angel came down with a tummy bug. It was just days ago that I was thinking “Wow she’s done really well, five weeks and not even a sniffle”… I guess it is thoughts like these that should have the alarm bells ringing.

Sophie came down with a slight fever in the afternoon. We attributed it to teething. When she went to bed early we thought we would keep an eye on her temperature while she slept it out. Her temperature kept rising and at after an hours sleep she woke feeling completely out of sorts. Then followed a major case of the collywobbles. We cleaned her up and headed off to the hospital. The security guard that hangs around our guest house must have been off on a snack run but luckily the local hairdresser was in. We were just going to use her phone when her friend, Moht (meaning Ant in English), said that she will take us to the Chiang Mai Ram Hospital. Not only did she drive us to the hospital, but she waited with us, interpreted for us and brought us home. Extremely kind.

Within an hour of us deciding to go to the doctor we were home safe and sound with our angel re-hydrated, medicated and sound asleep. Sophie was registered at the hospital, seen by nurses, prodded, weighed and measured by an English speaking doctor and found to have a stomach bug. All of which Sophie found highly amusing.

The last 3 days have been spent in our room. Now that Sophie is getting better we’re dealing with a slight case of sleep deprivation and cabin fever. Ho hum.

It has been another good experience within Thailand’s health care system. The whole experience set us back just under $30 AUD, including the medication, and at all times the hospital staff have all been highly helpful and professional. It just hammers home how important worldwide holiday insurance is, although most minor treatments are not too expensive it’s always good to know we can claim that money back. When we booked our insurance we found the best deal at InsureandGo and as long as we keep our receipts we wont be destroying our budget…

It has reinforced our decision to stick to the main tourist route while we travel with a baby.

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Everyone has a tooth story. Mine is the painful tale of 3 root canals, 15 injections in one sitting and an aching pocket. My teeth have been the biggest bane and pain of my life. For as long as I remember every check up would have the dentist rattling of a sequence of numbers and letters that would make a code breakers ears bleed. I would cringe with anticipation, awaiting each pronouncement “Root canal, root canal, major cavity, infection, etcetera, etcetera”. Then my calendar would be booked out for the next year.

Someone once told me that Europeans have bad teeth because of the poor water quality at the time we were growing up. Not sure how true that is but my mother, brother and I all have bad teeth. My father doesn’t. Maybe the water was better on his side of the street. Either way, my teeth suck so when we decided to go to Thailand, I thought I’d further research the rumours of good dental care in this foreign land.

In my research I stumbled across the concept of Medical Tourism. Thailand boasts a strong medical tourism industry and it appears to be growing every year. My experience in this regard has been exceptional. Firstly, when we had our vaccinations done at the Travel Clinic in Bangkok and now with my dental makeover in Chiang Mai. Yay, not going to end up on 60 minutes with a dental disaster story!

Grace Dental Clinic, although a little expensive by local Thai standards, was at least 1/3 of the price of what you would pay in Australia for top specialist care and the latest technological innovations. No I am not taking commission for that plug. Still a tuk tuk driver in training :) I’ve never been to a specialist dentist so this was a phenomenal experience. I was directed from the Family Dentist, to the Cleaning Dentist, to the X-Ray Dentist, to the Root Canal Dentist and back to the Family Dentist all within several weeks. In and out.

The reception staff and doctors speak good English. However, a smidgen of Thai goes a long way… I managed to bite the X-Ray Dentist, and embarrassingly asked who I assumed was the Dentist, “What will we be doing today?” to which she replied hesitantly “Umm… well I will be assisting the Dentist”. Of course I thought and I think I will just lie here quietly trying not to bite anyone. Its funny because I am the worst with the nuances of English so when my questions get answered so literally I feel like I just got a little dose of my medicine. I always forget to keep conversations simple.

But I digress.. Basically, the clinic was clean, professional and welcoming. In addition, relatively speaking, for the price of one root canal I received the root canal, 3 crowns, 3 fillings, a deep clean and the X-Rays. If you’re saving up money for that next visit to the dentist why not book yourself a ticket to Thailand and have a holiday while your teeth get a pearly white makeover.

So I have my chompers back in good nick and steak is back on the menu! And on that note does anyone know of any good steak houses in Thailand?

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Chiang Mai Ram Hospital Visit