Surfdog
As potential retirees in Bali that are fit but over 60 we are thinking through our options and the question arises about medical care? Any advice - who do you go to for general medical problems? We are able to fly back to WA for specialist treatment but what if there is an emergency?
harryopal
Good afternoon Surfdog,
This is an important question. You will find quite a bit of information on this link:
https://forum.expatindo.org/threads/expat-health-insurance-analysis.3292/
Depending on where you are staying it is important to suss out the best recommended hospitals in that area. For example, an Indonesian friend of my wife related how a couple of months ago her expat husband came off his motorbike and injured and ankle. He went to a hospital without knowing its reputation. His foot became infected and then his leg was amputated below the knee. You might also seek reviews of 24 hours medical services in the area that have a good reputation. Like any area of expertise there are good and bad practitioners. Some Australian hospitals have very poor histories when it comes to infection what with golden staph and anti biotic resistant bacteria.
tel522
hi harry , just for info , which hospital did your acquaintance have the nightmare experience ?
One to avoid for the future .
For sure health care here can be a dangerous lottery here , Scary!
tel522
Your right mate , Iv spent a lot of years in countries a lot worse than here for medical care , Eritrea ,somalia { b4 the war } etc , ya in those kind of places antibiotics are hard to get ,never mind anything more serious .
So I do appreciate the possibilities here compared to the aforementioned "resort areas";).
tel522
Yap , It was a fun place ! , I seen all the corruption especially in a lot of the aid projects , It was an eyeopener for me but good training for future work in other "dodgy countries", the Nss security used to follow me around on occasion ,I left when it all kicked off in mog , being shot at gets "tedious" after a while , especially when you dont have a gun to shoot back .
Mark
One of the best places to go for a serious or potentially serious issue is Singapore. Get insurance with a medical evacuation option and you've just reduced a hell of a lot of risk of living in Bali.
mugwump
Totally agree with you Mark. The small stuff can be handled here, but problems that could have severe consequences require a trip to S'pore.
harryopal
Sorry, my wife can't remember. She will have to ask her friend when they next meet up. I will post it when I have the information.
While the variability of medical care in Indonesia might be worrying it has to be borne in mind that often the quality of medical services in developed countries leave much to be desired. A group of eminent medical practitioners in Australian recently released a report indicating that billions of dollars are being lost in over prescribed medicines and procedures. Previous warnings have pointed to unnecessary surgical procedures with knee and hip replacements being more to do with surgeons' incomes than benefit to patients and many people not only left with no benefit but long term pain and suffering. Another warning by urologists is to do with men being panicked into unnecessary prostate surgery that leaves men incontinent, impotent and seriously depressed. I have a number of long time friends who have had procedures with truly awful results.
Also we ought be concerned about the increasing sourcing of medications in China which has a lamentable history of fake, imperfect and dangerous production aimed at increasing profits. And then there is the long term disregard of commercially manufactured "instant" foods and drinks loaded with salts, sugars and chemical sweeteners many of which have been identified in laboratories as linked with cancers in test animals. Not to mention the so called "pure fresh" fruit juices which are anything but fresh and mixed with concoctions to fool consumers into believing these are "health drinks." The net results is developed and developing countries with appalling statistics of obesity leading to diabetes, heart and other system breakdowns.
Cheer up. It is not all doom and gloom. Eat fresh foods, exercise and avoid riding motorbikes without insurance or licences
harryopal
Hah! Somalia? I made a documentary film in 1980 about an Australian aid project that was a great concept. Instead of being one of the big, flash international projects that threw around money on 4 x4 Toyotas, highly paid staff with all the perks and handsome bricks and mortar structures it was a low key affair that had villages nominate a local for basic medical training. Medications were based on what was affordable and could be found locally without again spending huge amounts of money on expensive imported medicines that then required refrigeration and other high tech stuff. The trainees taught basic hygience, dressed wounds , vaccinations and assisting women with pregnancies. A small team of Australian nurses, a doctor and a mechanic to run staff around for the training schedule had the programme coming along nicely. And then the dictator Said Barre was pressured to move aside. To keep the country together he had a security system based on Russian KGB mdethods, a bloke who was about 7' tall, as his personal assistant and persuader, and poles pegged outside villages for the occasional execution to provide inspiration and motivation for everyone to work together. So Barre went and then the country disintegrated. The aid project folded and that was that.
spicyayam
harryopal wroteA group of eminent medical practitioners in Australian recently released a report indicating that billions of dollars are being lost in over prescribed medicines and procedures.
I became more interested in health and nutrition this year. I noticed quite a few a people around me both locals and expats with various health issues. It worried me because of the thought of seeking medical care here and the possible costs long term. A lot of these chronic problems people have diet/lifestyle related. And it seems that most doctors both here and overseas prefer to prescribe a drug rather than try to get the cause of the condition, which is invariably a diet high in sugar/processed foods.
An interesting case is Dr Gary Fettke who is a surgeon in Tasmania. He got sick of cutting off people's limbs due to diabetes and decided to try and prevent it from happening in the first place. When he first started talking about cutting out sugar from people's diets, he was reported by the Dietitians Association of Australia. He has only recently been exonerated of all charges.
It is just crazy how a doctor can get into trouble for recommending people to eat healthy. Only recently the Dietitian Association of Australia said they would stop accepting money from large food companies. I could go on and on about this. This is just one example that I know, I am sure there are many, many more.
Juggler
spicyayam wroteI became more interested in health and nutrition this year. I noticed quite a few a people around me both locals and expats with various health issues. It worried me because of the thought of seeking medical care here and the possible costs long term. A lot of these chronic problems people have diet/lifestyle related. And it seems that most doctors both here and overseas prefer to prescribe a drug rather than try to get the cause of the condition, which is invariably a diet high in sugar/processed foods.
An interesting case is Dr Gary Fettke who is a surgeon in Tasmania. He got sick of cutting off people's limbs due to diabetes and decided to try and prevent it from happening in the first place. When he first started talking about cutting out sugar from people's diets, he was reported by the Dietitians Association of Australia. He has only recently been exonerated of all charges.
It is just crazy how a doctor can get into trouble for recommending people to eat healthy. Only recently the Dietitian Association of Australia said they would stop accepting money from large food companies. I could go on and on about this. This is just one example that I know, I am sure there are many, many more.
I read a book by David Guillespie many years ago called "Sweet Poison". I was really scary how the body processes sugar...worth tracking down...
expatfamily
Bangkok has great medical care and more affordable than Singapore, its something we will miss about Bangkok. Are you able to get any type of medical insurance or long term travel insurance?
tel522
Of course having a good expensive policy with evacuation possibility is ideal , but god forbid if its serious , where do you go in the "golden hour" here in bali thats the critical point , unfortunately iv heard good and bad stories at the major hospitals in the south ,such as siloam ,prima medika etc .
Thats where I feel its a bit of a lottery , if your lucky great ,if not .........................
Hopefully none of us have to face that hard choice .
tintin
Juggler wroteI read a book by David Guillespie many years ago called "Sweet Poison". I was really scary how the body processes sugar...worth tracking down...
...and you'd be surprised how many germs you inhale each time you breathe in!:p:p:p
SamD
tintin wrote...and you'd be surprised how many germs you inhale each time you breathe in!:p:p:p
Microbes are part of our natural life. We can't exist without them. The "germs" we cultivate in our bodies in the first few years of life stay with us all our lives. The problems start when there is an imbalance in our microbiological makeup. There is real evidence that bacteria in our gut can cause neurological conditions such as autism. Whether that is bad or good is debatable in my opinion. Is the world enriched by autistic people like Stephen Wiltshire or should we try to sterilise our world so that aberrations like him do not happen?
Answers on a postcard please.
harryopal
It seems that many Japanese have obsessed about cleanliness using sterile wipes to such a degree that there have been indications that in the absence of bugs the immune systems of many young people are becoming deficient.
modelt1826
I had a fall back in June and I was outside Ubud I went to a local clinic and they looked after me very well cleaned up the wound and covered it. I then went to mandala hospital Sanur and they stitched the wound gave me a course of anti biotics and I was fine. When I returned to UK my doctor was very complimentary on how good the wound had been looked me the doctor removed the stitches.
Tezza71
modelt1826 wroteI had a fall back in June and I was outside Ubud I went to a local clinic and they looked after me very well cleaned up the wound and covered it. I then went to mandala hospital Sanur and they stitched the wound gave me a course of anti biotics and I was fine. When I returned to UK my doctor was very complimentary on how good the wound had been looked me the doctor removed the stitches.
Hi there, can you tell me what sort of costs were involved with that treatment. I’m thinking of retiring to Bali and so I’m trying to build up a picture of the medical situation on the island.
