Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand Dec / Jan 2017: Special Edition | Page 16

Health & Wellness

Every time we send a
kid to surgery, you just
keep thinking: Was it
the right thing to do?

was a fisherman, and he no longer needed to ride on
his mother’s back,” says Dr. Preecha, smiling.
When a child is sick, the family experiences the impact, too. It has economic effects and can be burdensome. The child has to deal with lost opportunities as
well. So the patient’s parents and siblings overflow
with gratitude when surgery is a success: “If you can
solve this problem for them, the whole family will get
better definitely,” says Dr. Preecha. “I don’t think there
are any words that parents can use to express how
they feel. They’re speechless. They feel a weight lifted
from them.”
“The parents are always appreciative. They come
back every year for follow-ups. They are so happy,”
he adds.
When you hold a life in your hands, the doctor believes humility is part of the key to success.
Dr. Preecha describes the pressure he feels with
each case: “Even in a simple case, something can go
wrong.” Humble, soft-spoken Dr. Preecha explains,
“You have to think all the time. If you’re too confident,
definitely you’re getting in trouble.”
If it could be so, Dr. Preecha would want all cases
to go as well as the Lipe boy’s case. But despite their
best efforts, sometimes doctors cannot save a life.
Fortunately, there are more good outcomes than
bad outcomes in the doctor’s line of work: “It’s more
good than bad. If it were equal, I would stop doing it!”
the doctor says with a chuckle.
Quitting is not something Dr. Preecha plans to do
any time soon, though. He wants to keep the program running, and he wants to increase the number
of lives they can try to save, too. “I hope to keep going
with this program forever,” he says. “I hope we can get
more patients in here.” While the Rak Jai Thai is mostly
backed by the hospital, to help more patients means
the program needs more money.
The souvenir shop on the mezzanine floor of
Bumrungrad’s main building sells handmade items
from Thai villages. Every single baht of the income
16 WANDERLUST

generated from this shop