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11. Living in Bangkok

Bangkok at a Glance

Living in Bangkok

Living in Bangkok offers a unique experience.

Living in Bangkok is – like so many things in Thailand – a study in contrasts. On the one hand, quite a few foreigners living in Bangkok are backpacking globetrotters trying to spruce up their budget by freelancing as English tutors, for instance.

At the other end of the income scale, life in Bangkok offers countless opportunities to the high-level executive to lead a jet-set lifestyle comparable to Zurich or NYC. Of course, neither of these extremes is representative of what living in Bangkok is like for the average expatriate.

Living in Bangkok: Travel Health

If you consider living in Bangkok, you should take special care of your health. Going to see your family doctor in preparation for your life in Bangkok is a key point on any pre-departure checklist. First of all, your physician should see to it that you get the immunizations required for living in Bangkok.

These immunizations should include vaccinations against tetanus, diphtheria, polio, pertussis, MMR, influenza, and hepatitis A/B. Moreover, for longer stays, you should also get immunization against rabies, typhus, paratyphus, and Japanese encephalitis. Further shots to protect yourself against TBC or cholera are only necessary if your life in Bangkok involves working as a medical practitioner, an NGO employee in a slum, etc.

Life in Bangkok: Health Risks

Unfortunately, living in Bangkok makes you more prone to tropical fevers, gastrointestinal infections, or respiratory diseases. Depending on where you come from or have lived before, you may be used to the malaria prevention measures and hygiene rules that life in Bangkok necessitates.

Please talk to your doctor about taking proper steps against malaria, dengue fever, and chikungunya as well as about food and drinks safety. If you suffer from asthma and similar diseases, you might want to get professional advice on how living in Bangkok, with its traffic chaos and air pollution, could affect your lungs.

Living in Bangkok: Health Care

Moreover, you should take out comprehensive medical insurance, either with a private Thai provider or with an international company, before starting your life in Bangkok. Of course, everybody hopes not to fall ill during their life in Bangkok, but if it should happen, you want to be prepared.

Thailand’s public health insurance system does not offer adequate care and reimbursement options to most expats living in Bangkok. Therefore a private medical insurance policy becomes inevitable.

Living in Bangkok, you may quickly find out that Thailand does not have a health system based on primary care. Patients do not have a family doctor whom they go to see for minor ailments, medical check-ups and referrals to specialists. Therefore, if you choose a private clinic as your go-to place for health complaints, make sure to ask them first if they have a general practitioner on the staff.

There is a primary care physician (Med Consult Clinic) in the Racquet Club Building on Sukhumvit Soi 49/9, catering especially to British expats living in Bangkok. However, most health care for people living in Bangkok involves attending a doctor’s office hour at a private clinic or getting medical advice from specialists.

Life in Bangkok: Medical Care

Living in Bangkok has the distinct advantage that excellent medical care is available, but it does come at a price. Most hospitals expect you to pay upfront for standard consultations, minor treatments, and medication, or to make a down payment on stationary treatment and surgery.