Sahifu’s Travel Log » Bumrungrad Hospital

The fastest type of growing tourism around the world is medical tourism. Healthcare in the United States has turned into a total nightmare on so many levels that even the recent assassination of United Health CEO has everyone asking questions on how to fix the healthcare mess.

I don’t have an answer for America’s healthcare mess but for me, the solution has been to travel to Thailand and get excellent affordable care and service in Thailand at Bumgrungrad hospital.

Today I started the day early to conduct a full detailed healthcare analysis to determine if there is anything wrong with my health.

I checked in this morning to start my testing and examinations. The check in area was impressive and it featured people from all over the world being check in. I clearly saw people from India, Middle East, Europe and even a few Americans checking in to get healthcare service here.

For a list of services and packages you can click here.

Check In

There are two check in areas, the first is on the 10th floor and that’s where you present your identification, do initial paperwork then move up to 11th floor where the medical check in takes place (image below).

Fast Service

The most impressive thing about the hospital is the speed of service. My appointment was at 8 am but I showed up at 7 am. I waited 10 minutes then answered a short questionnaire about family medical history. I was handed a numbered fob that vibrates the way some restaurants do when you wait for a table (see image below).

Conveyer “Belt” System

Room 1

The way the process works is you are taken from room to room and each station does some type of examination. The first room below is initial weight, height, blood pressure, temperature and blood withdrawal.

In this room I also did a quick eye test and a color blind test. They took five vials of blood here. By 7:43 I was heading to the locker room to change into a hospital smock.

Room 2

The second room is the EKG room which takes about 5 minutes then back to locker room to put running shoes on.

8:03 am

Room 3

The third room has a treadmill and a machine with wire spaghetti attached to it. The nurses hook me up to dozens of wires and I looked like a fully harnessed horse. I step on the treadmill. it starts slow but speeds up and ascends. The treadmill goes higher and faster but this horse can hold his own.

8:30 done with heart stress test and results are good.

Room 4

The nurses lead the horse to water and make him drink and drink, next up chest xray. I walk into the room with a beast of a machine. The technician makes me hug the machine and positions me to take some chest x-rays. The process takes 3 minutes and I’m done.

I am told to drink more water, next up ultrasound.

Room 5

I lay down and am slathered with gel on my stomach area. The Doc spends lots of time moving the mouse looking device all over my abdominal cavity. Finally moves down to my bladder area and says she can’t scan it properly because I haven’t taken in enough fluids. I am told to go eat and drink and come back later.

Room 6 (Cafeteria)

9 am – breakfast

I am escorted to the breakfast area where I have two coffees, one glass of orange juice, two 6 oz bottles of water and some fried rice, three small pasties, and some chicken breast.

9:30 a.m. – Back to Room 4.

With a full bladder, the ultrasound takes 3 minutes but I had to wait 20 until the technician is finished with other patients. Remember this is a conveyor belt and there’s no slack time for bladder slackers like me.

10 am

Room 7

I sit down at an eye station, the one that puffs air into your eyes to check for the pressure. I then slide onto the station where the eye doc carefully looks at my eyes. Everything checks out (for my age).

Room 8 (waiting area)

After finishing the conveyor belt, I am finally taking to a large waiting area. Here you get to see the scale of the sheer volume of people being fed through the system. It is all fast, efficient and affordable and the U.S. healthcare system could learn a great deal from how they do things here. At no point did I have to wait for nurses to call insurance companies or their intermediaries to find out if something would be covered. The price of everything for this bundle of tests was fixed.

Room 9 (final boss)

It feels like a game and I’ve passed through all the bosses and now must meet my final match, the ultimate final boss, the main doctor with my results.

The doctor sits me down and he turns a large monitor screen and walks through dozens of screens with all my results. Everything is good except for a few minor deficiencies such as vitamin D3, B12, Folic Acid, Omega 3. The doc tells me to exercise more, don’t eat refined carbs and try to shed some pounds. Overall I am in very good health but could improve.

Recommendations:

Vitamin D3 – 5000 iu / day
Vitamin B12 – 500 mcg / day
Folic Acid – 500 mcg / day
Omega 3 – 1000 mg / day
Vitamin B3 – 500 mg / day
no refined carbs – rice, pasta, bread
eat lean proteins 3 to 4 oz.
do yoga 3 to 4 times per week
Exercise daily – avoid running (ruins knees).

If you want to see the process in more detail, I suggest you watch this YouTube which initially gave me the idea. While the hospital is different, the process was very similar.

Cost

The total cost for all these tests was about $1600 and it all took less than 4 hours. The same tests in the U.S. would have costs tens of thousands of dollars and taken months to schedule. There would be endless arguments with health insurance companies about the necessity of such tests and endless back and forth between doctor, nurse, insurance companies and intermediaries, no thanks, I’ll fly to Thailand instead.

Complimentary Bag of Rice

As an added bonus, I did receive a complimentary bag of rice but ironically, my doc said I should avoid carbs including rice.