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Aussie Patients Strain Phuket Hospitals


Flashermac

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Australian visitors - mostly males in their thirties without health insurance - are straining public hospital budgets in Phuket, according to an Australian media report.

 

The southern resort island is popular not only with tourists, but also retirees and long-term foreign residents lured by the lower cost of living.

 

But the public hospital system is facing an increasing financial burden from the high expense of caring for ill, cash-strapped foreign visitors, said the report by 7News.

 

At Vachira Public Hospital alone, the cost of carfing for foreigners is about 4 million baht a year.

 

Dr Nara Kingkaew, deputy director of the hospital, said Australians were among the leading foreign patients seeking care at public hospitals because they don't have insurance.

 

"It's a big problem because it's a great burden for us to look after the foreigners, especially the Westerners who come to Thailand without any health insurance and then they fall sick or are met with an accident," Dr Nara told Australian Associated Press.

 

There are about 30,000 Australians on Phuket in any given month out of a total of about 900,000 Australian visitors to Thailand each year.

 

Russians, Britons and Germans are also present on Phuket in large numbers.

 

Dr Nara recalled the case of one Australian man who fell from a Patong Beach hotel and spent several months in hospital recuperating from his injuries, including broken legs and hips, before being discharged. He was unable to pay the cost of his hospital stay, which amounted to about A$10,000, or 285,000 baht.

 

Foreigners in accidents are initially taken to private hospitals, but are often moved to public hospitals if they have no insurance or once their funds are exhausted.

 

Dr Nara said his hospital faced expenses each year of more than 4 million baht caring for foreigners, not only as patients but also those who die and whose bodies are not claimed.

 

The hospital by law must cremate or dispose of the body after 30 or 60 days after notifying the embassy if no relatives come forward.

 

Australian victims are often males, aged 30 to 35 years, who had been drinking before having an accident, often from crashing rented motorbikes.

 

He also pointed to a significant percentage of foreign retirees who use the hospitals.

 

Larry Cunningham, Australia's honorary consul on Phuket, says the issue of foreigners as a burden on public hospitals was growing.

 

"It's just not fair. I mean the retirees are blocking up the hospital," Mr Cunningham told AAP.

 

"Every time you go to Vachira [Hospital], there's a farang guy sitting there, legs in plaster, arms in a sling, bits off him everywhere, being wheeled out and they are blocking up the public health system."

 

The Thai Public Health Ministry has called for all visitors to be required to pay for health insurance at immigration checkpoints or to have the fee incorporated in their air tickets.

 

Dr Nara agrees. "That is a good thing for us because when they get insurance as they enter the kingdom, when they fall sick or they meet with an accident, they will have someone to pay for them. Otherwise the hospital has to spend a lot of money for the foreigners."

 

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/363982/treating-aussies-costly-for-phuket-hospitals

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Must say the Hospital in Phuket we went to in Feb was fantastic. The Good Lady had a migraine - a bad one, not a headache, and I think the hospital staff were grateful to see a patient who hadn't been on the booze all night. She was treated like a princess, really. Had insurance but the total cost wasn't much (less than the excess amount) so just paid for it then and there. Hats off to them all.

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Must say the Hospital in Phuket we went to in Feb was fantastic. The Good Lady had a migraine - a bad one, not a headache, and I think the hospital staff were grateful to see a patient who hadn't been on the booze all night. She was treated like a princess, really. Had insurance but the total cost wasn't much (less than the excess amount) so just paid for it then and there. Hats off to them all.

my only trip to the local A/E in Patong was over 10 Years ago when i needed 18 stitches in a head wound after being assaulted by a drunken Brit as i stopped him from punching one of my fave gals at the time.

my time in the A/E was quick and i was well cared for and i was very impressed.

at the time i had worked for 22 Years in an A/E Dept in the UK so i knew the ropes......i was very impressed.

I was insured but paid my bill in cash as it was only a small amount.

taken to the Hospital by 2 female friends who then took me back to my room and stayed with me the rest of the night to make sure i was safe.

they refused any payment for their trouble and the little fun we had the next day,only the cost of getting their blood-stained clothing cleaned.

and not forgetting free drinks in their bar for a couple of days afterwards.

 

but back to the original article.

i don't like to point fingers but over the past 5 Years or so i have noticed the amount of Aussies having to visit the Hospital and then moaned about the cost of treatment while admitting they had no insurance.

but i'm sure that the same things happen to other nationalities,but the Aussies did seem to be at the higher end.

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Another tabloid beatup on Oz news services yesterday about the places where Australians end up either dead or in jail. Surprisingly, while Thailand took the gong for deaths (111 ..) in 2012, the US has more Australians in their jails. Seems we are exporting stupidity even as our leaders tell us how keen they are to 'stop the boats' coming the other way. We need to start neutering longterm welfare recipients and Young Liberals alike.

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