Foreign Hospital Part Two: Thailand

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You really can’t get a full understanding of a culture without taking a trip to a local hospital. Or at least that’s the attitude I’m trying to take since it seems to be somewhat of a pattern for me…

After leaving the states and promising my mother I wouldn’t end up in another foreign hospital (I had a go at that my last long-term trip overseas…), Tuesday I found myself again experiencing the wacky world of foreign hospitals.

After lunch on Tuesday, myself and others hopped on our bikes to tour around Mae Sot, Thailand. There was a storm rolling in, so the wind was blowing extremely hard, and out of nowhere brought with it a blast of sand. While most of the others managed to miss even a slight encounter with the sand, I suddenly found myself unable to open my right eye without serious discomfort.

After my eye watering for a good hour, I opted to head to a private hospital nearby to see someone, and hopefully have it rinsed out. The nurses were reluctant to even speak to me, let alone let me talk to the doctor. Because there wasn't an eye specialist on staff, there was little they could or wanted to do for me. They finally caved and let me speak to the doctor who instructed them to rinse my eye and then give me drops and antibiotic eye ointment.

A few hours later, after resting, I was in even more pain than before. Begin second trip to the hospital, this time to the public one because rumor had it they had a optometrist on site. Unfortunately I was too late. More eyedrops and some pain meds later I was back in my hotel with an appointment card for 8 am the next day.

Now at this point I thought I had sorted it all out. I would get up in the morning, roll up to the hospital a bit before 8 am, have my name called, and see the doctor. Boy was I wrong. I got out of the tuk-tuk only to find a line of people in front of the check-in counter that wound around the hospital sitting area and out into the parking lot.

While I don't like to play the card of "stupid American," I was not ready to stand there in line, especially because I wasn't one hundred percent sure that the line was indeed for checking in. Plus, I had an appointment! So, I played really dumb, managed to find someone who spoke a little English, and was led to the front of the line.

There, however, the confusion didn’t stop, and my dumbing down didn't really pay off all that much. At the front of the line I was handed was a green square of paper with some Thai lettering and the number 13 (after looking up one of the words in my Thai phrasebook, I learned it was “eye” so at least I was registered for the right place). I was escorted to a waiting area where I sat with a whole host of elderly folk, some of whom were wearing eye patches, and others who looked fine aside from some missing teeth.

At about 8:15 there was still no sign of movement in the eye office, and not a doctor or nurse in sight. Also at that time, a song came over the loudspeaker that sounded like an anthem of sorts. Next thing I knew about half of the waiting room was standing, facing in my direction. The lady next to me started laughing when she saw my look of confusion, but I figured out the song was probably their pledge of allegiance, so I decided to stay seated.

A little after that things finally started to get moving. There was another bi-lingual medic who helped lead me through the process since it was entirely in Thai. Once my number was called the process began:
Step 1. Eye exam (reading numbers from afar). I was called into a room with about five other people. We sat in line and one by one went up to read the sign. When I finished I had to go back and sit until my number was called again.
Step 2. After waiting for another ten minutes or so, my number was called (or at least I thought it was...the order was a little confusing) and I put my face in a machine that shot air into my eyes…the nurse took notes on my green square of paper and sent me back to sit and wait.
Step 3. Again, my number was called and when the nurse was ready, I was finally able to tell her why the hell I was there in the first place! Then and only then did they listen.
Step 4. I went back into the room where I had my eye exam and waited again. At this point I found myself laughing with old men and women who were all trying to squeeze on the same bench as me. The laughter got even harder when I stood up to try to give them space and end up blocking the eye exam signs.
Step 5. "Missanna" was called, and I got to see the doctor!! With three other people in the room with at the same time...

The doctor found the teeny tiniest spec of sand underneath my eyelid (who knew something so small could cause so much trouble??). She then instructed me to take one med from the private hospital and another from the night before. She also gave me an "appointment" for 1 pm on Monday if I didn’t feel better (thankfully I've recovered).

Step 6. I brought my medical slip to the check out window and waited until my name was called.
Step 7. "Missanna" was called, and I went up to the window that was directly next to the window where I dropped off my slip (the woman who collected the slip just handed it to the other guy...). If I had needed prescriptions I would have had to go around to the other side where there were different windows for medicine pick-up.

All told, my care was thorough, and the three visits to the hospital as well as all my meds cost me about 750 baht, or 25 US$. Medical tourism anyone?

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