What is life actually like as a doctor working for state hospitals these days?
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Here is an excerpt from a story on doctors in government hospitals from the Lifestyle section of the Bangkok Post.
Chronic
Melalin Mahavongtrakul
Pictures of state healthcare providers overloaded with patients are a familiar sight. With inadequate staff and facilities, many of these hospitals often face complaints of long waits and inattentive care.
Last month, news went viral when a state doctor in Chiang Rai submitted a resignation letter stating that he found Thailand's bureaucratic system unbearable. He'd had enough with the workload after attending almost a hundred patients a day in a small local hospital where only three doctors are available, not to mention conflicts with patients and emotional breakdowns.
Recently, a 15-year-old boy died at a state hospital in Phetchaburi after a long wait with severe stomach pain. It was found that he suffered from a rare disease and an artery in his stomach had ruptured.
What is life actually like as a doctor working for state hospitals these days? Dr Warin Yuyangket, 39, neurosurgeon at Buddhachinaraj Hospital in Phitsanulok, said things can get pretty busy in her neurosurgery unit – a place she's been working for the past seven years.
The data from 2013-2015, as provided by fellow neurosurgeon Dr Visithi Sathienvantanee, shows that the neurosurgery unit at Buddhachinaraj Hospital cares for over 4,700 outpatients a year, while also handling about 1,500 operations, 2,700 in-patients and 200 emergency patients. The team consists of only four neurosurgeons, who treat everything: accidents, strokes, brain tumours, broken spines, etc.
In the waiting areas and hallways of the hospital, patients clamour, along with family of all ages, with some sitting in wheelchairs or lying in beds waiting to see a doctor.
As a regional hospital in the lower northern part of Thailand, Buddhachinaraj Hospital is responsible for patients in Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, Sukhothai, Uttaradit and Tak, as well as other nearby provinces.
For Dr Warin, work starts around 8am each day when she checks on patients – around 50, in her unit. Later in the day, she will meet other patients at the OPD.
At night, if she's due for a night shift – seven or eight days per month for each neurosurgeon – she will stay to care for patients outside of office hours. Her work concludes around 8am the next day, bringing it to a 24-hour shift. Additionally, she may have to give periodic lessons to medical students, or complete paperwork pertaining to patient data.
"I try to spend time with my patients, like five minutes for each of them in OPD. Some came really far from other provinces, leaving their houses at 3 or 4am and waiting until 10am before they see a doctor. It won't do to give them thirty seconds just to say hi and prescribe medicine.
"We do get some rest," Dr Warin said. "But let's say we're about to eat and our phone rings. Then everything else is dropped. We save our patients first. And on days when we have surgery, we could go from morning to night with no time to eat."
There are around 18,000 doctors registered with the Public Health Ministry, but only 57% work in state hospitals, including regional and community hospitals. The rest are in private hospitals and other places.
That perhaps explains why Dr Warin only gets about two days off per month. Her total monthly income is around 80,000 baht. For the same job, she said she could make about 500,000 baht at a private hospital.
You can read the full, much longer story here: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/special-reports/1307087/chronic
