My Recent Experience With Philippines Healthcare

[calasiaobound]

So my gf started having pain in her abdominal region. At first she assumed it was an early period..but to me..her symptoms didn't seem to fit. After less than two days of observing her in pain ..I forced her to get on the back of my bike and go see a doctor.

First doc was relatively useless. Charged us p970 and told her to get rest. From there I(feeling unsatisfied) took her to an obgyn I noticed in our neighborhood. No doctor on site. Had us wait two hrs for a doctor that never showed.. so we were told to come back in the morning.

So we come back in the morning..only to see a sign on the door saying they're not open till the afternoon.

So we come back at the time posted..

No ones there! MF gfs pain is seems to me to be fairly severe..however she is resisting each step I'm making her take..claiming she's fine etc. So I ask around..and find out another obgyn is near..so I take her there.

This doctor wasn't there either! Her receptionist says come back before 5 to see the doctor..its 3:30..so we come back..she's there. Only her equipment is on the fritz ...she suggests we go to the hospital and have her scanned with what I assume was an ultra sound..

So we get there. First off..looked like a bomb had exploded in the place..totally archaic and dirty looking.

Then we discover..they don't have the machine either..

So we're told where to go and that they " for sure" can scan her as soon as we get there.

We get there. "Sir no doctor is onsite who can read the results..you"all have to come back tomorrow"

Feeling frustrated I demand(nicely) that they get " someone " here immediately because by this point my gfs is pale..feverish and in general looking quite "off"

They finally tell me for p5000 they can do the scan ..but no one can decipher the results until the morning..

Of course that makes no sense..logic dictates I'd return in the morning as there'd be no extra fee. So I refuse.

Tell them to find someone immediately to do the scan and analysis of the results...

Finally they do so..

Low and behold she's bleeding internally and needs to be operated on asap.

Turns out she had a cyst that ruptured her fallopian tube and caused bleeding inside.

They removed her ovary on one side and the damaged fallopian tube.

I get a prompt whilst waiting for her to come out of the surgery.. I see a doctor in scrubs holding a metal bowl approaching me. In the bowl are my gfs body parts..and she's flipping them around..showing me the growth and the rupture..then tells me to wait

She then returns with the contents in a jar and tells me to take the jar to fllor 5 for lab tests!

Okkkkay..I say..whilst there the lab tech informs me they'll test for malignancy and that will cost p1000

Okkkkay...

Then in broken English I'm asked..private room or public?

Private I say..

It costs extra I'm told..how much I ask. P1500 per day..estimated stay of 4 days..pay in advance..okkkay..done..

Then at day four I'm given a bill for p170k and told I must pay it allll now or gfs can't be released..

Long story short..I jumped thru some hoops to get the cash..negotiated p37.5k reduction off off the bill (took 12 hrs BTW) then got the heck out of there.

What a nightmare healthcare is here. I saw some really ridiculously foolish blunders..not to mention the aloofness and utter lack of communication that enabled me to have a smidge of a sense of what I was in for..

Yikes!

[calasiaobound]

Sorry for the duplicate thread. It said " connection timed out" so I clicked again..

[earthdome]

Thanks for relating your poor experience. Glad to hear your gf was finally able to get diagnosed and treatment. Could you please let members know where this occurred?

 

Your experience is a good example for others to learn from. It is important to research the hospitals and doctors you wish to use and establish a relationship with them BEFORE you need them. For example when my wife tripped and fell while jogging gouging her chin and jamming her jaw I knew that we wanted to go to the private hospital Notre Dame de Chartres in Baguio. There was no waiting at the emergency room and she received immediate treatment which was excellent with no gouging on prices. When I had a very bad cough (lung issue) I went to a specialist at that same hospital who correctly diagnosed the problem and gave me immediate treatment.

 

Too bad you had to have a bad experience for others to learn from.

[Jollygoodfellow]

Sorry for the duplicate thread. It said " connection timed out" so I clicked again..

 

Sorry I deleted duplicate topic but there was a post there that went too as I thought at the time were both the same.

 

Anyway can you please tell us where your experience happened as the Philippines has many hospitals so its not right to blanket one experience with the whole country. 

[chris49]

I have been a nurse at fairly high level, so let me say initially....HORRIFIED.

 

As you can now see, retrospectively, you have been had, lock, stock and barrel. But on the other hand a ruptured ovarian

cyst or blighted ovum or anything to with the fallopian tube is a life threatening medical emergency**, so you had no choice.

 

A medical emergency like that, and using all my local knowledge would cost around 70-80k but lets say up to 100k including

the Doctors personal fees. Surgeon and Anesthesiologist, not sure on Radiologist and Pathologist but significantly less. 100k generously includes a personal fee for each specialist.

 

So you got done for 70k, but you stood your ground and got it down to 33k (per calculation of what you said) so your loss on the deal is 33k on my estimate of market prices. Let's say a loss of 33k-50k overall including the grey areas.

 

So the Docs on this case split up around 50k? NOPE THEY GOT 100K BETWEEN THEM BECAUSE THE FEES HAVE BEEN RAISED AND PAID TWICE.

 

 

GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS.

 

Good news. Your gf survived, worst case scenario, she could easily have died. And more good news had this happened in Metro Manila, the cost might have tripled. And also if she wasn't totally in love with you before and I actually think she was, you are more permanently bonded together now.

 

Bad news. There's nothing you could have done. I would have held my ground and point blank refused to pay until we negotiated more, but you have no medical background, you have not much of a leg to stand on.

 

**Disclaimer; my severly broken arm cost me 3k. One ER visit and one consult to Ortho, as soon as he said surgery, I raised my good arm and said, "give me pain pills and send me home, follow up x ray in 7 days" And that's what it was.

 

**Disclaimer 2: medical emergency, life threatening, there's nothing you can do. Nothing you could have done.

[scott h]

What a nightmare healthcare is here. I saw some really ridiculously foolish blunders..not to mention the aloofness and utter lack of communication that enabled me to have a smidge of a sense of what I was in for..

 

First, sorry to hear about your GF, female problems have always been a nightmare to us with outside plumbing. But happy to hear that all is well in the end.

 

Your bad experience just reinforces the need to do all our research prior to arriving or ASAP upon arrival. Find that Doctor or Hospital that we will be comfortable with WHEN not IF these emergencies arise.

 

We must remember that we are in a third world country regardless of how many similarities there are. Your experience amplifies why there are so many widows/widowers in their 40's and 50's here. Just like almost everything to do with living here, You get what you pay for. Weather it is food, transportation, housing or medical care, and reinforces the need for Medical insurance.

 

I would like to take your misfortune and make it a learning point for all of us. As you have experienced first hand we have seen that medical service is cash first or no treatment/no release. If it had been one of us and we had been unconscious and WE control the money, our wives or GF's would really have no choice but to watch us die. Might be a bit over the top but reinforces the need for prior preparation.

[jon1]

My wife went thru a similar experience (ruptured ovarian cyst) back in 2007. Luckily we were in Ortigas and not Mindanao at the time. I paid 200Kphp for emergency surgery, and 4 days private room in Medical City Ortigas. I had to put a down payment of 20,000php to get her admitted and paid the rest with my Credit Card. At that time the peso was 50php/$ so it was expensive but not near as it would be now. 

 

What was the real icing on the cake came after the surgery. The doctor called me into a consulting room and has a stainless steel bowl on the table. It's contents were the coagulated blood (about 1L) and ruptured ovary.  I was aghast and asked why I needed to see this? She wanted to know if I wanted to take a picture of the bowl. I said no thanks and was told that the operation was successful without complication. Wouldn't you know it? The first thing the wife says after being told about the bowl, "you didn't take a picture"? shaking my head on that one

[calasiaobound]

Thanks guys.

And BTW..the doctors portion of my post ...the obgyn(e)..were in poblacion east (Calasiao)

The hospital was dagupan city..Pangasinan Medical Center (PMC)

The first hospital that looked filthy..the name escapes me but that was in San Carlos.

I will say..the PMC nursing staff was extremely attentive and kind. They had a really great bedside manner

The doctor seemed to be pretty skilled as well and was nice to deal with.

The ppl in the billing department were downright rude frankly.

Asking them for a discount evidently implied I was " poor " or my status was "low"

They insulted my gfs FAM for not contributing to the cost and were very condescending.

In general the care seemed OK.

[OnMyWay]

The doctor called me into a consulting room and has a stainless steel bowl on the table. It's contents were the coagulated blood (about 1L) and ruptured ovary.  I was aghast and asked why I needed to see this? She wanted to know if I wanted to take a picture of the bowl. I said no thanks and was told that the operation was successful without complication.

 

I guess they want to prove they actually did something and nothing extra was removed?   :bash:

 

If that is the case maybe we should ask to see all the bowls, to look for other stuff like that extra kidney you don't need!

[calasiaobound]

My wife went thru a similar experience (ruptured ovarian cyst) back in 2007. Luckily we were in Ortigas and not Mindanao at the time. I paid 200Kphp for emergency surgery, and 4 days private room in Medical City Ortigas. I had to put a down payment of 20,000php to get her admitted and paid the rest with my Credit Card. At that time the peso was 50php/$ so it was expensive but not near as it would be now. 

 

What was the real icing on the cake came after the surgery. The doctor called me into a consulting room and has a stainless steel bowl on the table. It's contents were the coagulated blood (about 1L) and ruptured ovary.  I was aghast and asked why I needed to see this? She wanted to know if I wanted to take a picture of the bowl. I said no thanks and was told that the operation was successful without complication. Wouldn't you know it? The first thing the wife says after being told about the bowl, "you didn't take a picture"? shaking my head on that one

Omg! It must be a Filipino thing because my gfs asked me the same dang thing! Haha I laughed so hard reading your reply!!

So I read it to my gfs and she's laughing..but says" I told you ..its normal to take a picture"..

Haha