Expensive stay with Cho Ray hospital? $1000 blood?

That sounds like a lot of money. My wife was in the hospital for 5 days having our daughter via a c-section and it was only 5000usd and this was at a nice international hospital.

seems they are charging international rate. One bag cost between $522-$1183.

cost of blood packet

Did her family tell you the cost,go to the hospital and query it, you may be surprised.

Even though Medical University has all facilities with a reasonable cost, people are still interested in Private hospitals!
In case of emergency all private hospital need to refer the patients to the Medical University Hospital

[Moderated: Inappropriate]

VungTauDon wrote:

That sounds like a lot of money. My wife was in the hospital for 5 days having our daughter via a c-section and it was only 5000usd and this was at a nice international hospital.

VTD: So was mine - at FV. 5 days, and our cost was only $1600 USD. And I complained about that. Guess I should have been thankful it wasn't more.

As for the blood cost here, I could imagine it's quite expensive. I've never heard of any blood drives or known any Vietnamese donors, like the Red Cross blood drives in the States in which I was a regular participant. If they don't have an adequate supply, it makes sense that the cost would be high.

Actually they do have donor drives, Ive seen them on the local news service and on TV. I worked at Petro Viet Nam and they said they do blood donoring.

^That's good to know. They should publicize more to expats (unless maybe they don't want expat participation?).

Yes, I think more publicity would help the cause, maybe in the future.

I think the price is very high for a government hospital, i don't think the average local people can afford it. They need you to pay for the blood everyday, and say if you do not have money on the second day they will not give you any blood, medicine or let you see the doctor and will put you put of the room till you pay up.

^Yes Rolex, that sounds about right. This is Vietnam. That's the way patients are treated at hospitals, from what I read here in the past, and also what I've been told by the locals I know.

Rolex119 wrote:

Hi,

I am paying for my girlfriend's hospital bill as she had a head surgery to remove a blood clot. She lost a lot of blood and needed blood drip but i am shocked by the cost of it. The charges is around US$1000 for a packet of blood! I was told she needed around 15 packets of blood (a total cost of US$15000) and all these cost are excluding medicine and the stay in the hospital.

Have anyone got any personal experience?

Rolex119 wrote:

I think the price is very high for a government hospital, i don't think the average local people can afford it. They need you to pay for the blood everyday, and say if you do not have money on the second day they will not give you any blood, medicine or let you see the doctor and will put you put of the room till you pay up.

Well my friend, it looks like two things:

1) You're in Singapore.
2) Your girlfriend's family is ripping you off.

Typically a Vietnamese national would be on the national health insurance program which pays 80% (citizens pays 20%).  Asking you to fork over $15,000 for JUST the blood is just way the hell out of scam ball-park.  Because 1) you're not married to her and 2) a normal family would sell their land/farm and everything they own, beg/borrow to come up with the money to take care of their own.

colinoscapee wrote:

Did her family tell you the cost,go to the hospital and query it, you may be surprised.

So as colinoscapee said, go verify it yourself.  I hope I am wrong and you are already in Việt Nam.

just curious in Vietnam do they pay you to give blood? I know Canada doesn't pay but I think the U.S. pays people to give blood.

khanh44 wrote:

just curious in Vietnam do they pay you to give blood? I know Canada doesn't pay but I think the U.S. pays people to give blood.

They don't pay in Aus or NZ either,   but in NZ you used to get a cup of tea/coffee and some yummy choc biscuits, and if you were really smart and went just before lunch you could have an hour's lunch break  ( They used to go around the larger businesses in their  ' Blood Bus ' ).

Dear,

I think ...have something wrong here...If you are not in VN...maybe they try to tell lie....Sorry but i need to tell what i think....Now im on the way to find out the price of blood for you...And Cho Ray is not expensive hospital also.

I will find out the price...i dont want any person waste money for anything not worth.
Yuli

Yuli_nguyen wrote:

Dear,

I think ...have something wrong here...If you are not in VN...maybe they try to tell lie....Sorry but i need to tell what i think....Now im on the way to find out the price of blood for you...And Cho Ray is not expensive hospital also.

I will find out the price...i dont want any person waste money for anything not worth.
Yuli

That is the understatement of the year.....

better check the actual price. i do personally think, the price you've mentioned is too high.

k, taking bets. I'd say it's $100/bag of blood.

Dear Rolex,

I found already.  I read on news spaper, Ministry of Public Health  of Vietname have one rule like this:

According to the decision of the Ministry of Health 4578/2009/QD-BYT some price regulation of blood and blood products for treatment, the cost for one unit of blood in Vietnam is: 1 unit 250ml  blood price is 415,000 VND ( around : 20 $ ). => I think it can be up a bit depend every hospital, but can not more 50%, even if the price move up to 100%, It just : 40$ for 250ml.

I had one friend, now she died bcz leukemia ( Blood cancer ). She spent long time in hospital. She need to change the blood, but 1 week, just need 2 or 3 packages ( 300ml) for every week. So how you can trust your gf need total 15 packages...IMPOSSIBLE.

And i think you are not in Vietnam now, bcz i saw what you wrote...You though Hospital belong goverment is very Expensive. Your thinking is WRONG. The expense in VN hospital compare with Internation hospital in VN is very different, i just give you a real Example: About: Health Checkup, If you do in Vn hospital, you just pay around 300.000 VND to 700.000 VND ( from 15$ to 35 $ ) . But the price of Comlombia International Hospital in Saigon for Health Check Up More than 100 $. ( I remmeber around 120 $ )

For sure, you are getting TRICK now.

If you pay all that money 15.000 $, that money is not for hospital, maybe for Nice scooter, cloths, save money in Bank, or buy a small land in Binh Duong...

Hope you can recognize...........

Yuli

khanh44 wrote:

just curious in Vietnam do they pay you to give blood? I know Canada doesn't pay but I think the U.S. pays people to give blood.

No, like PP said about Aus, they'll give you some drinks and cookies. Does anybody know about requirements of donating here? I tried to donate in US before and was told my BMI is too low. I don't think that would be an issue in Vn with donating since most people here have lower BMIs than me.

OP, I attend the most expensive hospital in Vn. I see myself getting overcharged a lot and my bill is still nothing close compared to that. You are getting scammed.

khanh44 wrote:

just curious in Vietnam do they pay you to give blood? I know Canada doesn't pay but I think the U.S. pays people to give blood.

Yes, there is "paid" services but I am not awe of any clinics that do this.  Amcham however, probably would know since they did a statistical study on this.  The percentage that said "paid/relative donation" would imply that hospitals probably pay/buy blood to meet their demands in addition to what's donated.   

http://www.amchamvietnam.com/5585/why-s … n-vietnam/

Tran Hung Dao -

http://www.hsa.gov.sg/publish/hsaportal … usion.html

For the records, we don't pay for blood in Singapore.  See Section "Will I need to pay for the blood I receive during a transfusion?" in link above.

Rolex119 - 

From what I know, a standard blood packet is 1 pint (approx 473ml) of blood. Blood accounts for 7% of the human body weight - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood#Anat … lian_blood

15 packets of blood means 15 x 473ml = 7.095 liters of blood.  Does your girlfriend weigh about 100kg? I'm no doctor and different surgeries could require different quanity but here's a rough gauge. "Stanford Blood Center supplies more than 100,000 pints of blood and blood components a year to 7 hospitals to help an estimated 30,000 patients." It works out to be 3.3pints per person. 15pints sounds extreme. 

It could have been cheaper do the surgery in Singapore since $15,00 is just for the blood and is not inclusive of other hospital expenses?

Maybe you should just pay her a visit

why do u have to pay for bills? how about her family? i search google about blood price due to Viet Nam department health, it just 260.000 dong / 250 ml, ( 12$/250ml), 70$/450ml in 2004 , i think it wont raise much. you can ask some vietnamese 'friends and translate it for u. iam suspicious about your gf.
http://vietbao.vn/Suc-khoe/Huong-dan-mu … 23262/248/

Tran Hung Dao wrote:

Typically a Vietnamese national would be on the national health insurance program which pays 80% (citizens pays 20%).

After reading through all the info here, I agree this girl and her family are probably scamming the OP.

However, regarding THD's statement above, the majority of VN nationals whose social health insurance is not paid by their employer, do not have any insurance. The cost for a VN to buy the insurance themselves is about 800,000 VND/year. That's a lot of money for someone unemployed or working a low-paying job that doesn't cover the healthcare cost. So these people opt not to have insurance, and take their chances on getting sick or hurt. If something bad does happen, usually the family will pool their resources and help pay the bill. Furthermore, I'm told the national healthcare plan is a joke, and pays the bare minimum for care. People who go to the hospital and let them know they will pay cash, rather than use insurance, get preferential treatment and the best service/care. People using the social insurance must wait until after the cash-paying patients are treated.

So...it's very probable the OP's girlfriend does not have insurance, but NOT probable her costs are as high as she indicates.

Way too expensive. I was working at Cho ray Emergency department before ( MD ) . If your gf is foreigner, she is in 10th floor? The price is probably higher than VNese citiens but not that much. Cho ray is used to run out of blood because of too many demands ( patients from all of the south of VN tried to treat here) so maybe it is hard to find blood group. But thousands of dollars doesnt sound right. I don't know what disease your gf has exactly but you seem to be get cheated or something.
I give you a sugestion:
- Ask directly the doctor who is treating for her. Not solve the problem, ask the chairman...
- Move to another hospital that good at Neurology ( brain surgery) like: 115 hospital, Gia dinh hospital. You will be surprised about the price.
- If you have more money, can try Phap Viet international hospital or Vu Anh hospital ( those are expensive but still way cheaper as you said)
Good luck
Actually, i am Jakejas's wife . Today is the first day i got to the forum and used my husband profile.

jakejas wrote:

Way too expensive. I was working at Cho ray Emergency department before ( MD ) . ....
Actually, i am Jakejas's wife . Today is the first day i got to the forum and used my husband profile.

Thanks for the disclosure.  The second sentence already set off alarm bells that this wasn't Jake since we know he's an MBA student.  You should get your own account....use "jakeswife" if you like. 

Or start the disclosing sentence as the first sentence.  "This is Jakejas's wife using my husband's account.  I used to work at Cho Ray ER..." like that so readers won't immediately be alarmed "Jake is an engineer and a ER medical doctor too?  Wow, he's a freeken genius!".

As A Registered Nurse I seriously question your gf claim to need 15 units of blood for a simple blood clot. Without knowing the full extent of your gf medical condition I find it highly unlikely that she would require a transfusion - more likely she would require anti-coagulant therapy. I think this is a money grabbing exercise as others have posted.
Good luck

charmavietnam wrote:

Even though Medical University has all facilities with a reasonable cost, people are still interested in Private hospitals!
In case of emergency all private hospital need to refer the patients to the Medical University Hospital

They have a huge private wing. All seems a bit old fashion, but functional, clean, one and two-bed rooms + bed(s) for family, wifi, desk, locked drawers ...

That avatar could only have been chosen to be as irritating as possible.

Like so very many ring tones.

Are you sure its blood?   some immunoglobin or other blood products are indeed hugely expensive; a friend had a serious blood disorder at FV and had (excellent) treatment,  but the humaglobin was about 1,000usd a bag.  Its is very difficult to obtain.  We checked and it was same price at local hospital cho ray.   

By the way,  Family medical practice do run a blood bank and a donor register service, and expats are well aware of this.  When there was an urgent need last week I had about 25 emails from all over town looking for a rare group..  FMP was helping.