Bumrungrad Hospital

Hi Barry,

I was given a list of doctors who were available on the days I had chosen & then I checked out their qualifications & experience.(on the hospital website)

Dr Termsak is a professor of cosmetic surgery in one of the universities & he used to work in USA. This helped me decide on him.

I have to say I am glad I did as he has made a fantastic job & I can highly recomend him.

Good luck!

Simon

I am interested in cosmetic surgery in Thailand but I am at a complete loss as to how to choose a doctor.  Simon wrote that he had a very good experience.  Who was your doctor?  Does anyone have recommendations on who is the best face lift doctor or a reputable one?   How do I get real information?

Ive just returned from 3 weeks in thailand during which I had a full facelift & eye lid surgery done at bumrungrad hospital. I have read many web comments about this including the sad case of the american boy who died last year. I have no idea of the true facts in that case but to suggest they are involved in human organ trafficing is I think quite absurd!

However I can only comment on my own experiences which were way above my expectations! The staff were friendly, professional & efficient. The results of my surgery have delighted me!

If I had one criticism it was that the "package" cost as per the website is not adhered too & I was charged slightly more. However I can accept that it is impossible to fully diagnose a person by email! The amount involved included an extra day in hospital which I am actually very glad of & the extra costs were actually minimal.

I cnnot recommend Bumrungrad highly enough & would have no hesitation in using them again.  My brother lives in Bangkok married to a Thai girl & they both say Bumrungrad is the best hospital there & one of the top in the world!

Simon Nov 2007

I've had 2 surgeries at Bumrungrad in the past. One for removal of my gallbadder in 1998 along with a colonscopy, and in 2000 for an umbilica hernia(which really should have been addressed during the previous operation in 1998 since they utilized laporscopically my navel to remove the gallbladder). Both procedures were uneventful and at the time I felt the medical care was quite good compared to the assembly line care one receives here in the United States. I'm about to have another hernia operation and was thinking of having it done at Bumrungrad but after reading about the death of the young man and talking with lawyer friends of mine who dabble in malpractice claims I'm wondering if maybe there is cause for concern.I would appreciate any feedback on what others have experienced at this facility.

Sandip Madan

http://sandipmadan.blogspot.com/

The best thing about Bumrungrad is its marketing success.  The credit goes to its American managers and marketers, who have not only promoted the hospital well in the media, but have also included slick designs and features, streamlined administrative processes and generally made the interface with the foreign patients very user-friendly and reassuring. 

Bumrungrad tends to charge well for each of its services, and includes handsome markups for services it arranges through its local service partners.  For example their airport "meet and greet" costs $40 and the trip to the hospital costs extra - about twice as much as for a luxury taxi engaged directly at the airport (or six times what an ordinary taxi charges.)  But patients may not mind paying all these extras which are complimentary or included in package costs in other international hospitals.  Instead, a cause for greater concern are some of their "substance" issues like their quality of treatment.

Tom above has mentioned the Bumrungrad death in Feb. 2006 of the 23 year old American Joshua Goldberg that has drawn a lot of attention.  This could arguably have happened anywhere, but I too had concerns about the hospital way before that.  Joshua's dad has made many allegations against Bumrungrad in his website directed against them, including engaging in a trade for body parts, and sacrificing patients for that purpose.  In the absence of any facts to support this I don't set any store by such statements, and attribute them to the rage of a grieving father. 

My guess is that Joshua died because of a negative response to one or more of the medications given to him.  It's quite possible that negligence was involved and that Bumrungrad management tried to cover up  mistakes made, or stonewalled an investigation.  On the other hand it may not be the case, but here are the reasons why I am leery of their treatment quality and their practices:

• They don't seem to have outstanding doctors, particularly in areas of major surgery.  I've read their policy is to hire primarily Thai nationals, which limits their talent pool.  The bios of their doctors on their website is suspect as it mentions "fellowships" at US, etc. hospitals without mention of US residency (the US does not allow board certification or practice of medicine without US residency that spans several years.) 
• They don't mention how many procedures they perform, especially major orthopedic or cardiac ones.  This number is known to be positively correlated to quality.  After Joshua's death and the resulting publicity they have changed their website quite a bit, but even earlier I had noticed that their treatment packages were generally for the minor procedures, e.g., angioplasties, with no mention of heart bypasses. 
• They feed the media with claims that are clearly false or ridiculously exaggerated, though they are clever enough not to directly state these on their own literature or website.  For example, the NY Times, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and other major publications quote them as having treated 58,000 Americans a year, of whom 70% come for major surgeries.  A back of the envelope calculation shows they are exaggerating such numbers at least fifty-fold.  For instance, see Tom Keesling's blog comments here: http://medicaltourismreview.blogspot.com/2006/10/we-pick-bone-about-american-medical.html 
• They don't put out any quality or outcomes data for major procedures, as some top Indian hospitals often do, and US hospitals are now increasingly required to disclose.  Coming to think of it and given their declarations of patient volumes, even if Bumrungrad disclosed outcome statistics I wouldn't believe them unless it is independently verified.
• They don't have a pricelist of the standard procedures, unlike other top-tier hospitals popular with international patients.  To get prices from Bumrungrad you have to go back and forth with one of their specialists assigned to your case.  Their lack of up front estimates and transparent pricing makes me think, well, almost of used car salesmen.  Or Bangkok's PatPong bargaining bazaar.

I've seen Bumrungrad from up close in addition to reading about it.  I'd not go, or take a friend or loved one there, except if the outward patient experience (the tourism part of medical tourism) is a high priority.  And the procedure is relatively simple, with inherently low risk.  When I was visiting Bumrungrad their international lounge was a sea of women in black dresses and head scarves.  I was told a large proportion of their foreign patients are women from the Middle East who come for nose jobs or other cosmetic treatments. 

I have lived in Bangkok for the past 3 years and use Bumrungrad as as my regular health provider. Since living in Asia I have needed their service for an acute round of hepatitus,( probably acquired in another country) and for routine followup of a cardiac condition. ( I am a 60 year old male with an occasional irregular heart beat).

Compared to my experiences with "routine care" at home in Atlanta, the care here has been much better. Scheduled appointments are handled in a timely manner, and getting seen on a "drop in" basis  has always been easy compared to the hours of waiting in the U.S. Physicians have all spoken good English and their credentials reflect a broad range of international training and experience.

"Routine" kinds of tests have been affordable, and my U.S. insurance has reimbursed claims as they would against US based providers.

Compared to what I was used to experiencing at home, I feel very spoiled. I am not looking forward to getting back to the health care system in the States after we return home.

There is a website called "Bumrungrad Death" written by an American dad whose 23 year old son died there. It's hard to say if this experience is typical but it is a cautionary tale.

On the other hand who's to say that kind of thing isn't happening at US hospitals, too?