Medical care in Thailand is cheap, available, and on average, high quality. Many of the physicians have been trained in the US but that alone should not be a deciding factor. Large numbers of foreigners travel to thailand for treatment and even at the higher foreigner rate save thousands on otherwise prohibitively priced health care.
Plastic Surgury is inexpensive-An example is a lid lift- $400. Nose job-addition- about $250. Breast implants little more than that. And a complete sex change, for those of you out there who are a little confused, about 3000.
Medical procedures are equally inexpensive. A friend of mine who has lived over there for about ten years had a complete physical including MRI of back and neck, colonoscopy, etc etc for about 500 dollars.
I had a scratched cornea over there treated for about 40 dollars including the medications and 4 visits to the emergency room.
Hospitals are clean and well maintained in the major cities. The nursing staff has a much lower nurse to patient ratio.
One interesting note is the role of the pharmacist in Thailand. When you are sick with something simple, you go to the pharmacist. Say, an ear infection. You tell the pharmacist what hurts and why you think it is what it is. He then gives you an appropriate antibiotic and tells you to see the doctor if there is no improvement within 3 days or it gets worse. Just what your doctor here tells you when you see him and he writes a prescription.
Drug prices are amazingly cheaper in Thailand. I remember an antibiotic that I had paid 13 dollars a pill for here was only 80 cents there.
