Fertility care in Phuket

Where to stay during a cycle

Both fertility providers are on the Phuket Town side of the island, in the east, while most holiday accommodation is on the west coast. Monitoring visits come round every few days during stimulation, so staying near Phuket Town can save a lot of time on the road, particularly in the high season or in heavy rain.

Bangkok Hospital Phuket's Fertility Center is open daily from 08:00 to 16:00 and can be reached on the hospital's main line at extension 1683. On egg-collection day, arrange a driver rather than riding a scooter.

Choosing between the two providers

SAFE's Phuket branch is a fertility-only clinic and part of a five-clinic group; its ICSI package brochure lists monitoring visits, medication, egg collection with anaesthesia, ICSI with laser-assisted hatching, an EmbryoScope slide and freezing of up to three embryos. The group says single women can freeze eggs for social reasons and assigns overseas patients a personal assistant for translation, scheduling and visa paperwork.

Bangkok Hospital Phuket's centre sits inside a general hospital with a women's health centre led by maternal-fetal medicine physicians, which may appeal if you hope to stay on the island through pregnancy and birth. Its fertility pages do not describe a programme for overseas patients or the embryology laboratory.

Costs and storage

Neither provider publishes an IVF price. SAFE's egg-freezing brochure includes the first year's storage of up to 20 eggs, then charges THB 10,000 per cycle per year. Bangkok Hospital Phuket publishes a pre-pregnancy check-up package at 5,100–9,000 baht. Ask where eggs or embryos will be stored long term and what moving them would involve.

Treatment is usually self-funded, and the UK government points out that Thai hospitals want payment guaranteed before they treat you. Do not assume a travel policy will pay for complications arising from planned fertility treatment; check the wording first.

Language

SAFE describes support for international patients through a named personal assistant, and mentions English, Mandarin, Japanese, Vietnamese and Hindi across the group. Bangkok Hospital Phuket gives a figure of 16 languages for its international coordinators. Vachira Phuket publishes little in English, so ask about English-speaking staff if you plan to use its infertility clinic.

If you feel unwell after egg collection

The HFEA lists a swollen or painful stomach, nausea or vomiting, breathlessness, faintness and passing less urine as signs to report to your clinic at once, usually in the week after collection. Ask for an out-of-hours contact before you leave the clinic.

In an emergency, call 1669. Bangkok Hospital Phuket runs an Emergency and Trauma Center around the clock; dial +66 76 254 425 and ask for extension 1060, 1061 or 1062.