Thai medical system: Two thumbs up

Well, this morning I had an encounter with a piece of sheet metal that almost cost me a thumb. After a bout of wooziness I jumped on the moped behind Pi Jo and headed for the medical clinic in the next village over.

The nurse cleaned up the cut, hit me off with some novicaine and sewed it up with half-a-dozen or so stitches. They whole procedure, from the moment I walked in the door, couldn't have taken more than twenty minutes. And the cost? 20 Baht: about $0.60.

So it turns out that Thailand has a very efficient and cheap medical system! Pi Jo said people from the US, Australia and Wester Europe turn up all the time to get medical procedures that are too expensive in their countries. Apparently the hospitals are very nice, patients are treated like royalty, and the costs extremely affordable.

My experience at the clinic here was so great compared to the likely 5 hours I would have spent in the ER in Oakland, and the $700 it would have cost me.

And ladies, if you're thinking about reproducing...Peggy got the full-on, top-of-the-line obstetrics and maternity treatment at Thai hospital for about $200 when she had Tahn.