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MEDICAL TOURISM, GOOD HOSPITALS, AND CHEAP DRUGS IN THAILAND, ESPECIALLY IN BANGKOK


More and more people travel to Thailand for medical purpose as this country has to offers some of the best hospitals available worldwide, with great doctors, famous surgeons, and reliable technology imported from Europe and America.

But what makes Thailand one of the best destination for medical tourism besides cheaper doctor fees and hospital fees, is that Thailand also has to offer cheaper drugs than your home country, may it be UK, Germany, France, or US.

And it's good news because when you go to the hospital the fee which costs you most on the bill often is the medicine fee, most of the hospitals getting high profit from the medicine list which the doctors give to the patients.

But if you want to buy cheaper medecine in Thailand do not buy them at the hospital or clinic, because pills are more expensive there as they are in drugstores, especially in private hospitals such as the ones that you can find a lot throughout Thailand and which names are for example Bangkok Hospital, Bumrumrat Hospital, or Phuket Hospital.

So when you go to pay the bill at any hospital in Bangkok for example, tell the cashier that you don't want to buy the drugs that the doctor has prescribed and just pay for the doctor and hospital fees, what couldn't be more than 1500 THB (around 30 euros) in the most expensive Bangkok hospitals, and kindly ask the pharmacist to write for you the list of drugs that the doctor has told you to use, so that you will be able to buy them at any drugstore outside the hospital.

When buying these drugs in a Thai pharmacy you will save a lot as they usually are at least half price of the hospital price, and if you are buying a lot you can also bargain with the pharmacist to get a cheaper price than what he told you (believe me, a drugstore also is a very profitable business in Thailand, so do not hesitate to bargain when you buy a lot of pills).

You can find drugstores anywhere in Bangkok, and the most expensive ones are located on Sukhumvit and Silom areas, so if you want to find the cheapest stores where to buy your medecines, just go where tourists don't go.

Another trick when buying drugs in Thailand as in any country, is to ask for generic drugs instead of the official famous labs ones. A generic drug is a drug which is produced and distributed without patent protection and that contains the same active ingredients as the original formulation, but which is usually a lot cheaper than the original one, so do not hesitate to ask for these drugs in Thailand shops as well.