Within the recent past I found myself unwell again and started my campaign this time around at the Polyclinic in Hua Hin. The first thing you notice when you go there is that all the doctors are very old, well in fact almost dead is probably a closer description. The one I saw who posed as a general practioner later was found out by me in fact to be a pediatrician and not a general practitioner at all. My first visit was on the 12th Oct when his examination of me was to the extent of a quick stethoscope over the chest and a torch thrust down my throat =throat infection. I had gone there with a high fever, swings from severe sweating to shivers, joint aches and a stiff neck/headache. I was prescribed medication and a bill for 1.030 baht. Not cheap. Part of the medication was a large pack of paracetamol; these seem to come with everything at the Polyclinic only because they charge you about 200 baht for 20 when you can buy 20 in the pharmacy for 20 baht. They are also very clever, they lump all the meds together in the bill so you don’t know how much you’re paying for each different medication particularly the paracetamol. Until you ask !
I got worse. I went back. He said you’ve got malaria and you need to go to the Petcharat hospital in Petburi RIGHT NOW, shall we get our ambulance ready for you? By then I was suspicious something’s not quite right with this ageing doctor, maybe he was senile or suffering from Alzheimer’s. I said no thanks I’ll make my own way. I decided to go to the day clinic at the Hua Hin hospital on soi 10. They did a blood test = no malaria, no dengue but yes a very high fever. They suggested it was a viral infection and that it would pass in its own time and made an appointment for me to go back there 4 days later.
I got worse so by Monday 19th Oct I was in the car and my wife drove me to Petcharat. I had had good service there a few years ago so I was very confident I’d be in good hands.
Upon arrival the first thing that hits you is there is nowhere to park anywhere near the entrance. The car park way round the back is like a bog, knee deep in potholes and thick mud but hey life in Thailand is an adventure, right ? So my wife thinking ahead dropped me at the door while she went off to negotiate the large holes in the car park to find a dry place to park. I was worried I might never see here again my car and she disappearing into some large hole gone forever. As soon as I walked into the main entrance two further things hit me. First the lobby area was old and dirty. Secondly this Thai lady in Petcharat uniform obviously a farang “greeter” came up to me with a constant barrage of questions. Remember reader I was there with severe fever (39.6 deg cel), a headache and stiff neck and feeling generally like shit itself. I informed her that we had a letter from the Polyclinic and that as soon as my wife had managed to climb out of the big hole in the car park she would be there with the letter and my problem would be revealed. Did that shut this evil woman up – no way she was having none of it and carried on until those faithful words f**ck off worked and she left apparently less than happy, I later saw her in a huddle in the corner with a group of nurses pointing at me doubtless recalling her tale of the rude farang from Hua Hin.
I was then invited to wait to see the doctor, telling them I really was not feeling so good (so could they expedite) cut no ice and we began what turned out to be an unreasonably long wait of an hour and a half.
During my long waiting period I had to relieve myself. I was really shocked and horrified at the state of the public toilets on the ground floor. The stench of stale urine hit me even before I entered the male toilet area but once inside it was frankly horrific. The entire floor was awash with urine, the toilet bowls themselves were filthy and stunk. Even the walls were covered with graffiti. This hospital is not a government hospital it is a private hospital. The condition of the toilets should have given me clear warning of what the rest of the place would be like but at the time I was just feeling too unwell and tired to have the will to walk out and go elsewhere.
A whole hour and a half later we got into the first of many rooms we visited that day. The doctor did not take long to admit me, well after all I have medical insurance so to a hospital like Petcharat that is indeed very attractive. Sort of a blank cheque. I knew I was right on that score as I was given every conceivable test, relevant or not to my symptoms, gallons of blood were taken along with much urine.
Someone then appeared a bit later on and said well we can confirm 100% you do not have malaria or dengue. So the old guy at the Polyclinic was wrong – someone retire him please he is way past his sell by date and needs to be put out to graze. There is by the way a daily clinic for foreigners at the Hua Hin hospital on soi 10 the doctors can still see, walk without a zimmer and think and they don’t rip you off with the medication unlike the Polyclinic.
Finally several hours after first arriving at Petcharat I was taken, exhausted, feverish and totally fed up to my private 2,450 baht a night room. Well, nothing worked in that room, the TV picture was so bad it was unwatchable, the room was really dirty and ants were everywhere. The air con was so old it sounded like a very old motorcycle. You hit the toilet flush and it was still flushing from the last time the next time you went for a pee. I thought Thailand was into saving water ? I was just too tired and unwell to care I wanted to sleep that was all, dirty room, ants or not.
It seems that it’s pretty customary in Thailand to have someone stay with you in the hospital room. I could not do that because we have a young baby and my wife had left her with a friend in Hua Hin and was very anxious to get back to her. I told my wife not to worry I was not a child and would be fine alone. After all I was in the hospital, what could go wrong ? It was the safest place to be. And if I got worse well I could just call someone.
My private room was indeed private. It was on the 5th floor almost at the end of the corridor furthest from the nurse’s station. The nurses knew my wife had had to leave and return to Hua Hin because she went to tell them this herself in person but apart from the customary blood pressure/temperature check three times a day no one ever came to see how I was doing. At one stage the drip in my arm had come out of the vein and my hand was starting to swell up and hurt like hell so I pressed the “call nurse button”. It was OVER AN HOUR before anyone came. Now given my condition I could have collapsed, had a heart attack, slipped over and hit my head, whatever – I guess if that had happened then I would have laid there for over an hour. What had I told my wife “it was the safest place to be” yeah right.
Then suddenly it hit me. I was really very hungry. Where was my food? They had brought me cold water and a jug of hot water but nothing to drink it from but where was my food ?
I rang again for the nurse. This time much better only about 20 mins to come. Sorry sir we velly bizzy, well I don’t know what they were busy doing because most of the rooms on the 5th were empty (maybe most people knew about this hospital and its reputation and had gone to other hospitals). It then took another 40 mins for a sandwich to appear with a seven 11 wrapper on it. That was my food ! Although I was pretty disgusted at this feeble offering it did give me my first and only smile the whole time I was a prisoner there.
Same thing the next day and the next, no food. I only got some when I asked for it. God if I had been in the Petcharat for a month and the room buzzer was not working I would be dead of malnutrition, forget my illness the lack of food would have killed me.
By Wednesday 21st Oct I really had had enough and decided I’d check myself out. They had given me quite a lot of anti biotics by drip and that had had some effect because my temperature had returned to near normal, headache gone and sore joints were improving too.
At no time during my stay were my bed sheets changed. The floor of my room was mopped once but done in its entirety in less than 30 seconds (they are really thorough with the cleanliness). Given that I had been very feverish and sweating a lot when I was first admitted my bed sheets had been wet right through several times and this has resulted in me getting a very nasty rash in a very nasty place. Again I have to place the blame for this on the hospital due to the general lack of care and cleanliness.
I was only in the hospital for three days, it was hell. The place is dirty, the service is terrible, it’s impossible as a foreigner to get any food or find anyone that speaks English to any sort of acceptable level. If the Petcharat hospital seriously wishes to welcome foreigners then they need to set up for foreigners. The rooms need to be clean, things in the room need to work, they need to have on every nurses station at all times at least one nurse who can speak acceptable English. Sign language in this environment is very dangerous, things can be misunderstood with dire even fatal consequences.
Getting out of the hospital then proved to be another two hour battle while they “cleared” my insurance. The final indignation was when they presented me with a “separate bill” for 785 baht which included 7 baht for medication. These were allegedly items “not covered” by my insurance although I had received confirmation from my insurers that I was 100% covered. This again to my mind is just sheer profiteering. The hospital overcharges for everything.
I’d never go back there and my advice to all is that if you’re sick in Hua Hin DON’T use the Hua Hin Polyclinic. Use the day clinic at the Hua Hin government hospital on soi 10, its clean, quick and cheap. If you need to go into hospital as an inpatient then get in your car and drive right past Petburi and the Petcharat hospital and go to the Mahachai in Samut Sakhon. Petcharat no longer fits the bill, a veterinary surgery would be preferable to a stay at that dirty hell hole.
