Cost of seeing a doctor in Thailand

I have a lot of things to write but have been busy lately as wife is sick. Some of my friends had asked me how cheap and good is the medical facilities in Thailand. So this time, I took the opportunity of showcasing how they price the fees here.

Do click on the image to see a bigger scanned picture of the reciept. I had removed my wife's name as its not relevant. Anyway, the clinic we went to is the largest PRIVATE clinic in Maesai and it has a bigger hospital (about the size of Changi General hospital) in Chiang Rai. Of course since its private, we are expected to pay more for the consultation and drugs. Anyway, the total cost is 524 baht. About 25 dollars in Singapore. The breakdown is very interesting as you can see. Consultation itself is 30baht!! which is less than 2SG. Scary. Drugs wise, a bit more expensive as wify had a serious infection and need an injection plus 3 different types of pills for her to take. If I remember correctly, once you have an injection in Singapore, normally the price would be around $30 for public Polyclinics (that's 2 years ago when I experienced that, not sure about the price now). So normally, without any injection, the price range would be 150baht to 350 baht (depending on the drugs issued).

But here's the interesting thing, even if I am the one (a foreigner) going to the same doctor, I will be charged 30baht for the consultation too. And I still pay the same price for the drugs. If I go to the public hospital in Maesai (there is one but bloody long queue). All I need to pay is 30 baht and a heavily subsidized price for my drug (more than 50%). If you are a Thai citizen. Lagi best as you only need to pay 30baht for the consultation while drugs are totally FREEEE. Yes FREEEE!

So I pay cheaper price but do I get better service?? Well, there's a bloody playground for my girl and other kids at the clinic (slides and swings) and big sofas and television at the waiting room. No air-con but nice ceiling fans. The clinic we went is actually a huge 2 storey building with their own X-ray machine, blood test rlab, EKG machine and a CT machine. Yes, a CT machine(multi-slice some more) in Maesai and I've checked the price. 64 multi slice CT full body scan cost 999baht (45SGD). Wat lau, I'm getting one liao..... :P