Children and Family Care in Phuket

A child running a temperature four thousand miles from their own doctor is a particular kind of frightening, and it tends to happen at night. Paediatric care in Phuket means somebody who will look at your child properly, at any hour, and tell you plainly whether this is something or nothing.

The things that bring children in here

Tropical holidays produce a fairly consistent list, and almost all of it is manageable outside a hospital.

Fever with no obvious source
Vomiting, loose stools, or both at once
Ear pain after days in the pool or the sea
Rashes — heat, bites, allergy, or one of the ordinary childhood viruses
Grazes and cuts from tiles, scooters and coral
Sunburn, which arrives faster on a child than parents expect
Coughs and blocked noses picked up on the flight
Bites and stings from whatever was in the sand

A handful need a hospital. Sorting which is which is the whole job.

Fever, and the parts that actually matter

The number on the thermometer is the least useful piece of information. How the child looks and behaves is nearly all of it.

Drinking, weeing, alert between temperature spikes, recognisable as themselves: reassuring, whatever the reading says.

Floppy, hard to rouse, not drinking, breathing fast, or a rash that stays put when a glass is pressed over it: that is a different conversation, and an urgent one — see fever treatment.

Dehydration, which is the real tropical risk

Vomiting and diarrhoea in a small body move faster than most parents anticipate. Nappies drier than usual, no tears, a dry mouth, a child who has gone quiet — those are the signs worth watching.

Oral rehydration salts, given as a teaspoon every few minutes rather than a glass at a time, fix the great majority of it.

Where that has already failed, a drip is the next step and is not a defeat — see dehydration treatment.

Being seen in your own room

Getting a miserable toddler into a taxi at midnight helps nobody. A doctor coming to you is usually the better arrangement.

Children are also easier to assess at home. They are calmer, they behave more normally, and a doctor learns more from watching a child play than from one screaming in a strange room — see doctor hotel visits.

Siblings stay put, one parent is not stranded in a waiting area, and everybody is back in bed sooner.

Medicines, doses and honesty about them

Everything is dosed on weight, not on age or on what it said on a box at home. Children are weighed before anything is prescribed.

Paracetamol and ibuprofen, in the right amounts and at the right intervals, cover most of what a feverish child needs. Antibiotics are given when there is something bacterial to treat, and are useless against the viruses that cause the majority of holiday fevers.

You leave with the doses written down in millilitres and in English, including how often and for how long.

The ear that starts hurting at eleven at night

Days in chlorinated water and warm sea produce a great deal of outer-ear infection, and it always seems to declare itself after everyone has gone to bed.

It is properly painful, and it responds well to drops plus pain relief. The relief comes quickly once treatment starts.

Flying with an untreated ear is miserable and occasionally damaging, so it is worth sorting before a departure date — see swimmers ear treatment.

Rashes, most of which are harmless

Heat rash from the humidity, insect bites, an allergic flare from a new food, or one of the standard childhood viral rashes. Nearly all settle on their own.

The exceptions are worth knowing: a rash that does not fade under pressure, one with a high fever and a very unwell child, or swelling of lips and face with any breathing difficulty.

Anything in that second group needs looking at immediately — see allergic reactions.

Cuts, grazes and the tiled pool edge

Wet tiles and bare feet produce a steady supply of split chins and knees. Most close with glue or adhesive strips, which children tolerate far better than stitches.

Everything gets cleaned thoroughly first, because sand and pool grit left in a wound is what causes trouble a week later.

Tetanus cover is checked and topped up where needed — see wound care.

Animals, which children approach and adults do not

Cats and dogs around resorts and beaches are approachable and often unvaccinated, and monkeys near the viewpoints are worse. A child will always try to stroke them.

Any bite or scratch that breaks skin needs washing under running water for a full fifteen minutes and then a medical opinion the same day, because rabies in Thailand is a genuine and fatal risk.

Post-exposure vaccination works, and works best started immediately — see rabies vaccination.

When a child belongs in hospital

Breathing difficulty, a seizure, a serious head injury, dehydration that a drip is not correcting, or any baby under three months with a fever.

In those cases the referral is made straight away, the receiving paediatric department is telephoned, and transport is arranged — see hospital transfer.

Nobody is kept at a clinic to see how it goes when a hospital is the right answer.

Frequently asked questions

How high does a fever have to be before I worry?

The reading matters far less than the child. Drinking, alert and recognisable is reassuring; floppy, breathless or non-drinking is not, at any temperature.

Can a doctor come to us rather than the other way round?

Yes, and with children it is often better. They are calmer at home and a doctor can see how they normally behave.

What does dehydration look like in a small child?

Nappies staying dry longer than usual, a mouth that looks parched, crying that produces nothing, and a child gone oddly still. Begin the salts before you are certain.

Are you open through the night for children?

Every hour of every day, at all three branches, and by phone. Children rarely get ill at convenient times.

Will my child be given antibiotics?

Only if something bacterial is found. Most holiday fevers are viral, where antibiotics do nothing except cause an upset stomach.

My child was scratched by a cat at the hotel.

Wash it under running water for fifteen minutes and come in the same day. Rabies is present in Thailand and the vaccination course works.

Does a split chin need stitches?

Often not. Glue or adhesive strips close most of them, and children find that far easier. It gets cleaned properly either way.

What if my baby is under three months?

Any fever in a baby that young goes to a hospital paediatric department, and we arrange it rather than describing it.

Three clinics, none of which close

English-speaking doctors, on duty 24 hours a day. Phuket is bigger than visitors expect and the traffic is worse than the map suggests, so Takecare Medical Clinic works from three separate buildings rather than one: Bang Tao on the north-west coast, Kata in the south, and Patong between them. Each is open every hour of every day, takes people without an appointment, and asks nothing about residency or referrals.

Beyond the island, Takecare Medical Clinic is one of the Takecare Clinic group‘s clinics working across Phuket, Krabi and Chon Buri. That matters mainly for what happens afterwards: move on mid-treatment and the next clinic already holds the notes, so a handover is a call between colleagues rather than a folder you carry through an airport.

Getting seen, and how to choose a branch

There is somebody on the end of +66 81 718 9080 or WhatsApp 24 hours, every day. Say what has gone wrong and the reply will be honest about which of three things you are dealing with: come in now, this will keep until the morning, or skip us entirely and go where there is a surgeon. No appointment exists to be made, and there is no hour at which asking is a nuisance.

Pick whichever branch is nearest rather than whichever sounds largest — they run the same hours and carry the same equipment. Patong suits the west-coast beaches and Bangla Road, Kata covers Karon and the south, and Bang Tao serves Layan, Surin and Cherngtalay. Cannot get out to a clinic? Ask for a doctor hotel visit instead and somebody comes to your room. And if what you need turns out to be beyond any clinic, referral and hospital transfer is arranged from the same conversation. You are made stable before anybody moves you, a colleague rings ahead so the team on the other end knows what is arriving, and the transport is organised for you rather than handed over as one more thing to sort out.