The only way I will go to Bumrungrad is to get my prescription medication that is not available anywhere else. Well it is available but to see a specialist at Siriraj takes a couple of weeks at least. The price of course reflects what you get at Bumrungrad. Just make sure that you get charged and only pay for what you want. They might try to get you to do a lot of tests that you really do not need to do.

exactly... can also happen at other hospitals
never let the doctor/physician decide! he/she recommends...and you decide!

Can't help, but I hope everything goes well for you wherever you end up.

I've only used Bumrungrad of the BKK hospitals, but I've had mostly excellent experiences there. The thing that drove me to it was needing a {REDACTED} biopsy for extremely high {REDACTED} with an 80% likelihood of cancer. It was going to be a 3+ month wait in the US, and I was heading to Bangkok on business anyway. I registered online via email and got an appointment with the specialist doctor. I uploaded all my test results in advance. When we sat down for the initial visit he agreed I needed a biopsy. I asked when, dreading the answer. He said, "Well, not tomorrow." We did it later in the week! Hospital even arranged for a car to pick up and return me to my hotel - something no American hospital would dare do. The staff were all extremely professional and accommodating, of course. Best part for me is that my USA-based health insurance pays at the same rate as they would if I got the care in the US. So better care, better staff, much better scheduling and accessibility, all for the same price to me. I've recently retired, and even though I travel 365, I go to BKK twice a year just to get all my regular health care there.

You can try Bumrungrad International Hospital, Bangkok Hospital, or Samitivej Hospital

My experiences at Bangkok Hospital have been excellent. It's a very different experience compared to the US (in a good way).

While Bangkok Adventist Hospital doesn't have the polish of many of the aforementioned hospitals, they do have a US educated and licensed physician who is also Thai board certified. Nick Walters MD studied spoken and written Thai for two years to pass local accreditation.

any idea what is "family medicine"? Your link indicates, that his subject is "family medicine"...
Do you get any advice from him if you get sick from your family? :rolleyes:

:D:D:D

It got me curious, as to whether that is at all a thing - apparently it is about as broad as can me, and would hardly constitute a "specialisation" in my book..

It's a common descriptive in the US. Basically your family doctor. Not a specialist, but a general practitioner, who will treat patients of all ages.

Yes, family medicine = general practitioner. The terms are interchangeable.

well. A specialist generalist. We fix a decent percent of stuff ourselves and refer on if we can’t fix it
Australia is probably a bit different than America but the bulk of my core business day is chronic disease management and prevention- cancer screening, blood pressure and diabetes management for example, a lot of mental health, contraception, antenatal care. Obviously for anything complex there is a specialist involved and it’s usually shared care

/back on topic

thanks! I am not familiar with the US terms..never heard in Europe or Thailand so far...

They call general practitioner 'family doctor' in Europe a lot. I never been to a doctor in Thailand so can't comment on that.

No, it's an indication of how broad the practice is: birth to death, all ages, sex. Everyone in the family can go to the same doctor for anything non-ER.

In the US, under certain health care plans, these doctors also functioned as 'gatekeepers' to try to treat patients at the non-specialist level (cheaper) as much as possible. Because those doctors are pressured to keep costs down by not referring patients to specialists, even when necessary, the role has come under fire.