Job Discussion Forums

Mr Wind-up Bird · Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Posts: 196

Can anyone recommend a good but not too pricey health clinic here? I've previously been to SOS, Colombia-Asia & the French one by the cathedral & been ripped off in each one, and I don't have time to spend a day waiting for an appointment at FV. Many thanks.

And while we're at it, does anyone know where I can get decent health insurance here, without having to pay via a UK bank account?

mr.pete · Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 26

Depends what you want,but a locally-owned private hospital is way cheaper than an international one (they are really there to exploit medical insurance) and often has similar or better equipment. Hong Duc hospital at 234 Pasteur is very good from my experince.

You can buy health insurance at Bao Minh for one, or also at Allianz in Metropolitan Building at top corner of Dong Khoi. Bao Minh is JV with Australian firm CMG, Allianz is German. A local salesman tried to tell my friend that the insurance from Allianz was obly valid in Vietnam, which I think is rubbish - but ask!

H5N1 · Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 80

Cyan · Joined: 26 Mar 2004 Posts: 59

I would suggest Gras Savoye - french company that works for Goodhealth a UK company. You have to pay in dollars say you have have your money exchanged first but I think its worth it.

I went to a local hospital near my house and I complained of severe chest pains and nausea. The"doctor" looked in my throat and ears - total time 2m:45s and I was charged 100,000.
If Im being ripped off by an expat hospital, at least the doctors actually have a clue!!!!

Murzel · Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 10

I tried the hospital on 234 Pasteur St and found them to be very gracious to my bumbling newbie foreign ways.

The doctor doesn't seem to be familiar with the use of doxycycline as a prevention for malaria though. He thinks that it's only used for treatment.

Still, he has e-mailed me about this after I saw him today, so I can't complain about being ignored on the issue. Difficult to get anywhere when the doc only wants to figure out how wealthy you are, like many doctors in Indonesia where I lived previously.

Mr Wind-up Bird · Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Posts: 196

Went to this place in the end:

Family Care Intl Clinic
35 Pham Ngoc Thach
Q3
HCMC

Really good - $15 for a local doc, $25 for foreign. I needed ultrasound & x-ray, which only cost $3 each. Excellent service all round, heartily recommended!

mr.pete · Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 26

Great - cheers! I should point out that my experience at Hong Duc was for a broken leg - for various types of lurgies, then I would check out Yellow Pages / ask a clued-up local (which was how I found Hong Duc, the other recommendation being Hoan My on Tran Quoc Thao where it changes to Le Van Sy, near the T with Ky Dong.) Took a mate;s kid there once, as they were up from the sticks, and the doctors there spoke English too, come to think of it. I have been treated in 3 or 4 hospitals here now, top 3 are local and the FV one comes out bottom, even though I spent even more money in one of the local ones! But ... I know plenty of people who have been very happy with FV, and one of the senior Vietnamese doctors there is a good friend of mine!