This place was recommended by a foreign expat living in Saigon who had her hip replaced here for 4000usd. She mentioned it on a health forum on Facebook and I conversed with her for a while. She felt it was possible for me here if I rented a room and used food delivery.

I sent an email and received a reply in Vietnamese which told me that it had been forwarded to the relevant department and someone would contact me. A month later nothing had happened so I sent a follow up email and received a reply in Vietnamese telling me to call.

I didn’t; I went in person. The place was large and chaotic but not as ‘third world’ as I’d worried. I’ve seen worse places in Thailand. It was just busy. I wandered around and got some pictures. No one was bothered with me and I felt comfortable.

I went to reception and explained why I was there using a translation app. Someone was called from a nearby ‘foreign medical tourism’ office or something. An English-speaking woman turned up. She told me that an MRI would cost between one and two million, and the doctor 150,000. This is cheaper than anywhere else. But she told me I’d have to wait a couple of weeks for the MRI, although I could see a doctor the same day.

I asked how I could communicate with them if they don’t answer emails and she gave me a leaflet which showed how to download the app. I did so but there is no English option and I can’t use it.

In the street behind the hospital, there is a street with hotels and I read one of them is Khmer speaking. I think they do get some business from surrounding countries and seem to be competant, but it’s too chaotic there for now. I might try a consultation first just to see how it goes as that’s pretty cheap.

 

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Update: well by pure chance I bumped into a Vietnamese friend in Phnom Pehn whom I hadn’t seen in years, and she had her old Vietnamese sim from years ago, which she gave me, and I was able to register on the app.

Using Google Lens and translate, I was able to create a profile for myself and register. It won’t accept foreign ID so I had to use fake numbers, so it certianly isn’t set up for outsiders.

Once I got to the home screen, the options were: book exam; payment; history of visits; pay bills; vat invoice; health records; monitor your health; patient club; ?injections ?Paraclinical exam?

Specialized examination leads to: spimal colum, neruologist; patient care; skin; mouth cancer. These are all listed at 150,000 except neurology which is 300,000.

Book exam/see a doctor has various criteria and dropdowns, but using AI I was able to translate it and ended up with a list of orthopedic doctors and their timings.

Dran Dang Khoa (wed morning)

Bui Dang Khoa (Wed and thurs afternoon)

Nguyen Dong Lap (tues afternoon and Sat morning)

Huynh Khoi Nguyen (Mon afternon and sat morning)

Cao Thanh Ngoc (Tues and thurs morning)

Dang Ngoc Son (fri afternoon)

Nguyen Cau Tuan (Thurs and Fri afternoon)

They are all listed as 150,000D, which is about 6USD.

I have searched online and cannot find information about any of them. The price is cheap and they’re close to where I want to stay initially. My next step is to try and find out if I’ll need an interpreter and how to arrange this and what the going rate should be.