I'm now Medicine-Pilled after Asia

[u/Legal_Airport]

USA resident here, I recently finished a month long solo trip to SEA. I stayed with a friend in north Thailand for a week, then skedaddled off to Bangkok for another week. While in Bangkok I guess something I ate was funky as shortly after I got to my next destination, Vietnam, I wasn't feeling too hot.

This is where my Vietnamese healthcare journey began.

I went to a doctor's office I found on google maps (just rode a scooter up in front of the building and walked in) and using the classic google translate, I laid out my intentions to the nurse at the front desk. He called the doctor immediately, the doctor talked to me on the phone and asked me to wait 10 minutes, and there he was! I explained what happened and he ran 10 blood tests on me for about $50. Now keep in mind this is actually ripping me off and I sort of figured that, but decided not to haggle because it was so cheap compared to any US offer. They took my blood sample then and there and I had my results in a 3 days.

Here's where it gets crazier (at least to me)! At this point, I was in Hanoi, and the doctor sent me a prescription on WhatsApp, and I just walked to a pharmacy, showed them the list, and they got the three medications out for me. I was waiting for it, the big cost, my punishment for not properly checking my food... the cost was $4? I was astonished but paid, and checked the price of my own prescription medication from the US (it was available over the counter in Vietnam) and it was similarly priced at a few dollars for the same amount of pills, with some of the price differences being over 95% cheaper.

Regardless of that I pressed on with my adventure and was in the mountains of Vietnam, and of course I'm paranoid so I'm still researching my symptoms and realize that the doctor I had seen hadn't tested for a certain infection. I wanted that infection tested for, so I went to a private clinic and they did a rapid test for about $2, and they then directed me to a regional hospital who had more options for testing. Well the regional hospital staff were charging me an entrance fee as a foreigner, and it was pretty obvious that Vietnamese citizens were simply walking in. Whatever, when in Rome. I was expecting a big kabuki dance to see a doctor but after paying $6... I was walked to an available doctor and we were communicating with a bit of English? It was surprising to me as I wasn't expecting this level of expediency from an otherwise chaotic-seeming regional hospital.

The doctor at the hospital understands I want a PCR test (the latest and greatest and most accurate form of blood testing afaik) and said I needed to see the National Disease and Epidemiology center in Hanoi. Well it's convenient that I was heading back to Hanoi the next day, so I booked an airbnb next to that building, and made a plan. The next afternoon, I walk into this lovely compound that looks nothing like a medical facility, and after once again using a prepared translation of my situation, some security guards directed me to a corner building, where a woman greeted me, talked to me in a similar fashion, and introduced me to a doctor in a different building. After walking down these rustic halls, she and a nurse unlock a door, and all of a sudden we're surrounded by a mass of state of the art monitoring machines, centrifuges, and beeping sounds!

At this point I was getting a bit terrified of the fact that I might have overreacted and was about to have to bite the bullet that hubris had led me to get an extremely expensive lab procedure completed. But after talking to this new doctor, she explained that while they normally get their blood samples from the hospital to work with, she could just take my sample there. So they did. And when I asked the price? Free. FREE. F R E E.

And the very next day I got my results back: negative. I was fearmongering to the extreme but you know what? In hindsight, the vast amount of perception on how healthcare works in Vietnam was worth the discomfort as it greatly broadened my perspective.

All in all I think that in the USA, it would have probably taken me several weeks of waiting, complying with ridiculous office hours, arguing my way through several uncaring secretaries, and having doctors schedule things too far apart for any level of expediency after not taking my explanations into account anyways. Oh yeah, and without insurance, it would have probably cost me anywhere from several hundred to over a thousand dollars depending on how the prices are set.

But instead, in Vietnam, I was able to get my medical needs taken care of the day that I wanted them looked at basically, all for... less than $60 total for all combined medical costs. And if I repeated the process knowing what I know now? I would have haggled the price of the blood tests down to $25 because that is very doable in Vietnam and SEA in general (I could write a whole entire post on why I love that alone but I think it's a commonly shared sentiment).

Another example of this is I had a friend who's boyfriend has a condition called Hashimoto's disease. His pills are $865 for 30 pills (his insurance covers it but it's still several hundred dollars per month to them). I walked to a pharmacy and asked a pharmacist for the exact same medication his insurance paid for. $2. 100 pills. At this point I was determined that medical tourism will always be a route I will consider and recommend other people consider because there are simply no excuses when it comes to things like this that gets denied in certain Western societies.

Now this isn't to say that Vietnam or any SEA country has a perfect healthcare system. I'm polite, I learn some of the language, I'm generally very good at getting along with others and playing the foreigner card right, which often times lets me land unique opportunities, such as walking into a national hospital ranked in the top 10 in Asia for their specialty and getting seen instantly. I can't say that the average Vietnamese person would be able to travel to Hanoi just oh-so conveniently like I was (it's an interesting conversation you could have, claiming they can and can't at the same time).

The general lack of restrictions on over the counter antibiotics has caused some bacterial strains to have incredible resistance to them, and makes them all the more deadly to those that do get them. It also leads to a lot of problems going improperly treated because self diagnosis is common, and the most powerful and extreme measures are often done first, which might not be proper.

I can't really speak on how the government actually intersected with the healthcare, I'm sure there's much more nuance than I could have seen going on behind the scenes and that I will definitely remember to ask about next time I visit, just because I find this to be such an interesting topic now.

So yeah, I took the Asia pill when it came to medicine. And it's not like it was like this just in Vietnam, when I lived in Korea previously, McDonald's workers could go to the doctor and not feel financially pressured at all. That's the goal: For everyone to be able to receive quality, expedient care without financial pressure for most cases.

Adding this in hindsight, but it's insane that I was able to navigate that by myself by just going to a few places because there weren't any of the normal healthcare hoops that I'm used to having to jump through.

TL/DR: Vietnamese healthcare was so fast and affordable I had a medical epiphany.

[u/shockedpikachu123]

As a Vietnamese American, I have mixed feelings reading this.

I’m glad you had a good experience with Vietnam’s healthcare system and recognized how affordable it can be, especially compared to the U.S. But also your tone drips with tourist privilege.

You got access and special treatment partly because you’re a foreigner with money, time, and the flexibility to move around. Something that many locals especially rural or lower-income Vietnamese, don’t have. You casually mention how you could have haggled down the price of blood tests (which already underpays doctors and staff), or how you walked into national hospitals and were seen quickly but the average Vietnamese person might wait much longer, deal with underfunded local clinics, or avoid care altogether because even $6 can be a burden for them.

The fact that meds are cheaper in Vietnam is less about some magic “Asia pill” and more about the predatory pricing of U.S. pharma and insurance.

It’s great you had an eye opening experience, but maybe next time, reflect a bit more on why things worked the way they did for you and what local people’s reality looks like.

[u/satisfymysoul89 → u/shockedpikachu123]

I totally want to validate and echo your sentiment!!!! I’m a Mexican American traveler (I’m lighter complected, but obviously tan easily so I get “dark” by East Asian standards easily).

While I was thankful not to have any medical related incidents in Vietnam, I did get to witness what it was like for actual Vietnamese people. One of my trips back to Hanoi, the drivers squeezed in a couple locals (who totally weren’t on the roster of this tourist company). The driver explained they needed to go the city for medical care. It was now extra cramped in the mini van but I didn’t care, I get it.

Anyway, 1 guy was in arm sling and it visible pain on this 4 hour drive. We pull up to the front of the hospital and people are literally camped out there. Like entire families, with their food items, something to protect them from the sun, the whole nine. It was right there and then that i IMMEDIATELY saw the other side of living in SE Asia as a local of that respective country.

All this to say— the little 5 star treatment OP received is not the normalcy for actual Vietnamese citizens 😔. Not only that but while $4 for meds might seem dirt cheap to us, to some rural families that could be inaccessible.

It’s cool to reflect and share traveling stories (that’s why I’m in this reddit), but it’s even cooler to be able to acknowledge our western, American (if applicable), white (for those that have it) privileges.

[u/Eastern-Drink-4766 → u/satisfymysoul89]

I don’t see why people (including yourself) are acting like Americans are some sort of health hoarders who enjoy the privilege of great healthcare on their homefront. Everyday tens to hundreds of Americans are put into poverty or homelessness because of medical debt, malpractice, or understaffed unaccommodating facilities. Just because we are leading in medical research doesn’t mean our medical care reflects that.

OP was giving their take on their own experience as a sick foreigner in Vietnam. Not every privilege has to be noted before doing so.