The Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) at their meeting on Wednesday, July 26, welcomed “Doc Martyn” who spoke on the topic “Surviving the medical system in Thailand.” He notes he is a retired Doctor, BM, BS, BMedSci (Honors), FRACGP (Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners accredited by the Australian Medical Council). He also has a diploma in Clinical Hypnosis from the University of Nottingham.
Now living in Thailand, he has created “Club Medical Pattaya” offering medical second opinions. He also offers medical advice through publication of his “medical bytes.” He notes that he is retired and is not registered to practice medicine in Thailand. However, since retiring 5 years ago, he does offer to provide free second opinions to both farangs and Thais around Thailand.
He began by mentioning his topic would be divided into four sections. The first covered the relevance of Buddhism, the westernization of Thai medicine, and the level of medical training in Thailand. This was followed by comments about the Thai medical profession in making a diagnosis, health screening, surgical care, and post discharge care. This section included some graphic illustrations of situations encountered in Thailand as a result of medical misadventure or negligence. He did emphasize that the quality of medical care is good in most private hospitals in Thailand, but not necessarily so in many Government facilities.
In the 3rd section, he commented on the issue of medical professionalism required by the Thai Medical Council. In his opinion, Thailand’s regulatory agency, unlike many western countries, was geared to protect the medical profession rather than their patients. As a result, doctors are not held accountable as there is no inducement through the prospect of successful litigation for their mistakes or negligence.
In his concluding 4th section, he reiterated some of the problems and explaining why and how one should take control over their own health. Obtaining second opinions on what medical care is needed is one option. He then described how he provides this service free of charge, but of necessity, he uses a health spa which has a nominal charge for their facility.
MC Ren Lexander then called on George Wilson to conduct the Open Forum where the audience can ask questions or make comments about expat living in Thailand. To learn more about the PCEC and their activities, visit https://pcec.club/.
