Medical Services in Phuket

All of the following is available at Bang Tao, Kata and Patong alike, 24 hours, every day,
without booking. Most of it can equally happen at your accommodation, which takes
around an hour, depending on where you are. You are told what it costs before anything begins, and every visit can
generate the receipt and the English report an insurer will later ask you for.

Services

Doctor Hotel Visit in Phuket — A doctor arrives at your hotel, villa or condominium with the kit to treat you there.
Doctor On Call in Phuket — Ring at any hour, describe it, and get a straight answer about whether to come in.
English-Speaking Doctor in Phuket — Plain English throughout, including what it costs, before anything is agreed.
24 Hour Emergency Care in Phuket — What can be started now, and honest triage about when 1669 is the right call.
Walk-In Clinic in Phuket — Bang Tao, Kata and Patong. No appointment, no referral, no residency questions.
Hospital Transfer and Referral in Phuket — The department telephoned ahead, notes sent with you, and the vehicle arranged.
IV Drip Therapy in Phuket — For the stomach that will not hold water, the heat, and the night that went too far.
Children and Family Care in Phuket — Somebody who will look at your child properly at four in the morning.
Blood Tests in Phuket — Dengue, counts, kidneys and liver, reported the same day rather than next week.
Health Screening in Phuket — A morning of bloods and a conversation about the numbers, not an emailed spreadsheet.
Confidential STI Testing in Phuket — Nothing explained, nothing reported, and the timing worked out so a result means something.
Travel Vaccinations in Phuket — Hepatitis, typhoid, rabies and the tetanus booster nearly everyone is overdue.
Rabies Vaccination in Phuket — Started the same day, whatever the hour, after any bite or scratch that broke skin.
Stitches and Wound Care in Phuket — The cleaning first, then glue, strips or sutures, and the changes afterwards.
Burn Treatment in Phuket — Scalds, exhaust pipes and the sun. Twenty minutes of cool water comes first.
Prescription Refill in Phuket — For the bag that went to the wrong continent. Bring a photograph of the box.
Medical Certificate in Phuket — Signed, stamped, in English, with a licence number, before you leave the room.
Fit-to-Fly Certificate in Phuket — Assessed against what a cabin actually does, not signed on request.
Pre-Flight Medical Check in Phuket — The ear, the stomach and the fluid balance, sorted before a fourteen-hour flight.
Airport Medical Assistance in Phuket — For landing unwell, or waking up ill three hours before departure.
Travel Insurance Claims in Phuket — Diagnosis, onset date and fitness to travel, written the way policies ask for.
Repatriation and Medical Escort in Phuket — The clinical report an assistance company works from, and the calls that follow.

Conditions treated

Grouped by the situation people are usually in when they arrive, rather than alphabetically.

Heat, sun and the first few days

Heat exhaustion treatment in Phuket — Ninety percent humidity means sweat cools nobody. Caught early it is straightforward.
Heat rash treatment in Phuket — Blocked sweat ducts, not an allergy. Cool it, keep it dry, and stop the scratching.
Sunburn treatment in Phuket — Eight degrees off the equator, and cloud stops almost none of it. Cooling, fluid, pain relief.
Dehydration treatment in Phuket — From a sachet of salts to an hour on a drip, depending on how far behind you are.
Jet lag and travel fatigue treatment in Phuket — Light, timing and the first two days. And what it looks like when it is something else.

Stomachs and fevers

Food poisoning treatment in Phuket — Four hours after dinner and it has taken the night. Fluid, salts and an anti-emetic.
Traveller’s diarrhoea treatment in Phuket — A third of visitors get it. Most need salts and patience; some need testing.
Dengue fever treatment in Phuket — Daily platelet counts through the days that matter, and no ibuprofen at all.
Fever treatment in Phuket — A symptom with a long list behind it here. Narrowing that list down is the work.

The sea and the beaches

Jellyfish sting treatment in Phuket — Vinegar then hot water. Fresh water, sand and urine all make it worse.
Sea urchin spines treatment in Phuket — Which spines come out, which are better left, and the infection that is the real risk.
Swimmer’s ear treatment in Phuket — Days in warm water, then agony at midnight. Drops and proper analgesia fix it fast.
Ear barotrauma treatment in Phuket — Pressure that would not equalise, on a descent or at depth. The drum gets looked at.

Bites, stings and reactions

Insect bites treatment in Phuket — Sandflies, mosquitoes, ticks and the centipede in the bathroom. Plus what infected looks like.
Dog and monkey bites treatment in Phuket — Fifteen minutes of washing, then the rabies clock. Dogs, cats and the viewpoint monkeys.
Allergic reactions treatment in Phuket — Fish sauce is in everything savoury. Adrenaline first, and never the other way round.

Scooters and the road

Motorbike accident injuries treatment in Phuket — The most common serious thing on this island, mostly to people riding for the first time.
Road rash treatment in Phuket — Not a graze. A wide open wound with tarmac in it, and the cleaning decides the outcome.
Exhaust pipe burn treatment in Phuket — Inside of the right calf, usually the passenger. Deeper than it looks and always dirty.

Knocks, cuts and the morning after

Cuts and lacerations treatment in Phuket — Glass on a beach, a wet tiled step, coral. Cleaned properly before anything closes it.
Sprained ankle treatment in Phuket — First question is whether it is sprained at all, because pain does not tell you.
Severe hangover treatment in Phuket — Worse here than at home, and occasionally not a hangover. Both get checked.

Which branch to use

The nearest one. They keep identical hours and carry identical equipment, so there is nothing to
weigh up beyond the traffic.

Bang Tao Branch — On Bandon Road in Cherngtalay, serving Bang Tao, Layan, Surin and the north-west coast.
Kata Branch — On Kedkwan Road at Karon, covering Kata, Karon and the southern beaches.
Patong Branch — On Prachanukroh Road in Patong, minutes from Bangla Road and the beachfront.

Half a dozen things it helps to know in advance

A burn wants twenty minutes under a running tap before it wants anything else at all — burn treatment.
A scooter pipe leaves a deeper mark than the skin suggests, and covering it with a plaster is the wrong move — exhaust burns.
Once a dog, cat or monkey has broken skin, a clock is running. Wash it for a quarter of an hour and come in the same day — rabies vaccination.
Paracetamol only until somebody has ruled dengue out. Ibuprofen and aspirin both affect platelets — dengue fever.
With a feverish toddler, watch whether they are still taking fluid. It tells you far more than the reading does — paediatric care.
Nothing open goes in the sea or the pool until the surface has sealed over properly.
Documents for an airline are a job for the day before departure rather than the morning of it — fit to fly certificates.

What needs a hospital instead

Imaging, theatre work, admission, specialist opinions and rabies immunoglobulin. When that is the
answer you will hear it straight away rather than after an hour of treatment, and the referral is
made with a call ahead and transport arranged — see
hospital transfer and referral.

Part of a wider group

Takecare Medical Clinic is one of Takecare Clinic group, working across Phuket, Krabi and Chon Buri. Care begun at any branch
can be picked up at another without your history being taken again from nothing.

Not sure it is worth coming in?

Telephone and describe it. Nobody charges for that, it rarely takes more than a minute, and it
usually answers the question outright. If a clinic is the wrong place for whatever this is, you
will be told so directly, along with where you should be going — see
doctor on call.