Korean Job Discussion Forums

[espoir]

Let me just preface this by first stating that the search feature isn't working for me again and I have not been able to find the following information through a manual scanning of threads.

I was just wondering if anyone could give me a bit of medical information or where I could recieve it.

I tried this weekend to go to the hospital and a pharmacy hoping that there was someone their who spoke english and would be able to help me, but this search turned up to be fruitless. And I am hesitant to involve my co-workers, mainly in that I consider this more of a personal matter and they already talk enough about me in Korean, so no need to fuel the flames.

So heres the situation:
Back home in canada I went for nerve tests for my legs and they determined that I have nerve damage most probably caused by something pinching my sciatic nerve. Its definately not life threatening as I have lived with it for 2 years now. But I had to leave before I could get an MRI done. So I need to get one done here just to see exactly what the problem is. However I have not been able to find a english speaking doctor who could help me scheduel an examination.

Therefore I was wondering if anyone here knows of a hospital in Incheon or Seoul that has excellent english speaking staff that I could arrange an examination through.

Additionally I was wondeing if anyone knew if codeine is easiely accessible here as my perscription is already half done and I do not want to use my Vicodin as it has more addictive properties (its only for a LAST RESORT). Also if you happen to know if you need a docters note to get codeine over here as I expect it to not be over the counter.

With my public school medical inssurance and the travel inssurance I bought before comming I am 100% covered so money is not an issue, just lacking in information and any help that anyone can provide would be the uttermost appreciated.

cheers

p.s. used this forums instead of the FAQ because this one gets more attention and would like to resolve this as quickly as possible. thanks in advance

[Trevor]

I recommend Samsung hospital in Seoul. You will not have a language problem.

http://english.samsunghospital.com/

You can also PM 'Dr. Love' on this forum. He'll be able to give you more options.

[Dazed and Confused]

Inha hospital has many doctors who speak English. There's one in the othropedic clinic and another in the neurology clinic who are quite fluent. Just stress that you want a doctor who can speak English. I've found the doctors are willing to pass you off to one of their co-workers if they aren't confident enough to communicate with you.
Navigating the hospital is a pain for me and I usually have a Korean along but other people I know seem to do OK with it. There's foriegner line to pay and I think they can help with everything else.

[icicle]

Most of the major hospitals have International Clinics who can help you orgainise what you need including translation and helping arrange appointments. I have personally used Seoul National University Hospital who I have found very helpful

[Korussian]

The standard Search function is certainly a problem. I have made available a better option, using Google Custom Search.

You can find discussion of it, and a couple of links & suggestions by looking at this recent post on the problem.

The search results for the word "MRI" for example, would look like this.

Hope this helps and best of luck finding the right medical answers!

http://www.dmitryvolokhov.com

[the ireland]

i got an mri done in march, it cost 350,000 and insurance did not cover it, luckily for me i taught at an awesome hagwon and when the principal let the director know i had to get this done he gave me a 500,000 won bonus for the month to make sure i did not have to worry about the cost of it myself and also a little extra for always being happy and not complaining or looking for loads of stuff of the school,,,,,,what a nice guy!!!

[Xuanzang]

The Yonsei Severence hospital has a good setup. I had good service last time I was there. The doctor trained at NYU.

[travelbender]

Seoul National has an "International Clinic". I heard from a Korean co-worker that Samsung Hospital is the most expensive in the country, so you might want to ask about costs before getting it done as cost can vary from hospital to hospital.

Codiene isn't easy to get, but it may be easier if you've got an old prescription with you. Korean doctors seem to think that for severe pain a single extra strength tylenol every 8 hours is sufficient. I'm sure others have experienced this similar situation. Western medications tend to be stronger than Korean medications in dosage because of metabolism differences, etc. (Same reason why Koreans can have 1 drink and westerners can go all night...).

Anyway, the codiene type pills I found here were 200mg Tylenol, 200mg Ibuprofen, but only 10mg of codiene (the regular tylenol #3 dosage is 30mg). So be sure that when you do track down that prescription for what you need, that it's the correct dosage. For some reason, Korean doctors, though well educated, can't quite come to terms with body differences and won't bother to even look up western dosages....in my experience.

[espoir]

Thank you very much everyone for all your helpful responses. Will be checking out those hospitals this week then. I do truely appreciate the information