– Dr. Suthannama Nimsakul –
Dr. Suthannama Nimsakul‘s laughter often echoes from her examination room, helping patients who visit this BNH Hospital ENT specialist to ease the anxiety of their current ailments.
This is the story of Dr. Suthannama, a woman born to be a doctor, who lives her life to the fullest to share happiness with those around her.
Raised to Be a Doctor
“My father is a plastic surgeon. He dedicates a lot of time to patient care, sometimes returning home late or having to travel abroad or to other provinces frequently. He often participates in projects to perform cleft lip and palate surgeries for underprivileged children, which became my inspiration. Actually, my father wanted me to be a dentist, but I wanted to follow in his footsteps, so I became a doctor.”
As a child, Suthannama grew up with her single father in his private clinic. She often had opportunities to help with small tasks in the operating theatre, seeing blood from a young age, which left her fearless. She absorbed a love for the medical profession, which eventually became her sole dream.
“My mother passed away from breast cancer when I was seven, which made me want to help seriously ill patients, like my mother, return to a physical and mental state as close to normal as possible.”
Suthannama was admitted to the Faculty of Medicine at Srinakharinwirot University, located at the Ongkharak campus. With her cheerful and outgoing personality, she easily befriended people. All her fellow medical students lived in the same dormitory, making this period of her life exceptionally fun, despite the heavy workload. They relied on each other’s help, waking each other up to study late at night, tutoring each other, and supporting one another, enabling them to get through that time.
However, during her fifth year of medical school, Suthannama experienced a significant turning point: the loss of her grandmother, who had raised her since childhood.
“My mother passed away when I was young, so my grandmother was like a second mother to me. My father worked a lot, so I was very close to my grandmother. My fifth year was quite demanding as I was nearing graduation. Although my grandmother didn’t suffer from any serious illness; she simply died of old age, after she passed away, I lost all motivation or inspiration. It took me some time to come to terms with it.”
That event also helped the doctor better understand the feelings of patients’ loved ones, and she got through that period with the encouragement of her fellow students.
After graduating, Dr. Suthannama completed her rural service at Somdet Phra Borommarachathewi Na Si Racha Hospital. Being accustomed to assisting her father, who treated patients with facial issues, combined with many of her father’s friends being ENT doctors, Dr. Suthannama chose to specialise in this field. She also has a strong interest in aesthetics, so she opted to sub-specialise in facial surgery. She completed both her ENT specialisation and her residency, with further specialisation in facial surgery, at Chulalongkorn Hospital.
After completing her advanced specialisation in facial surgery, the doctor began working part-time at BNH Hospital and later transitioned to full-time. What makes this particularly touching is that Dr. Suthannama’s own father had worked at BNH Hospital for a long time, and even more, Dr. Suthannama herself was born at BNH Hospital.
“This isn’t a very large hospital. Colleagues and staff from each department can sit and chat in the doctors’ lounge. Everyone is like a friend; we’re quite close, which is beneficial when we see patients. Our closeness allows for continuous patient care. For example, one patient might have multiple systemic issues. Besides ENT problems, they might also have other health issues, often eye problems. I’ll simply chat with my colleagues, asking them to help look at this patient, enabling integrated patient care following the hospital’s Complete Care approach.”
Dr. Suthannama is an ENT doctor, but to provide holistic and comprehensive treatment, she considers it important to also address the patient’s emotional well-being, as often the patient’s true problem lies there.
During her time as a resident, she had the opportunity to study Family Medicine, gaining experience in treating entire families. She practised Active Listening, which involves listening intently to others, using questions to prompt patients to articulate and express what they want to say, and providing targeted treatment.
Currently, Dr. Suthannama is the mother of a young child. Being a mother means experiencing many situations where children don’t behave as expected. However, by gradually learning from her child, she has gained a deeper understanding of children and their expressions. Her own experience as a mother has provided the doctor with insights into approaching paediatric patients, a key group she treats for snoring issues and abnormalities in their tonsils and adenoids.
“Child patients require a lot of attention because young children can be fussy. And after tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, their diet is restricted to only liquids, but children love sweets. We have to try to understand them. Now that I have a child, I understand better how to speak to children of this age or how to motivate them to cooperate, because they have their own thoughts and won’t let us force them.”
It could be said that direct experiences, including raising a child, losing an elder relative, and being immersed in medical work since childhood, have shaped Dr. Suthannama into the doctor she is today.
Suthannama's Balance in Life
Dr. Suthannama is a humorous person who loves to crack jokes and make those around her laugh. However, being a doctor is demanding work, so it’s natural for her to experience some stress. On stressful days, she heads to the fitness centre.
“Nowadays, I love attending Body Combat classes. I feel it helps burn a lot of fat and also relieves stress. Zumba dance classes are fun too.”
Additionally, she finds joy in looking at the stickers and stamps she’s collected since childhood. She’s so passionate about it that she has serious sticker albums and numerous stamp albums. However, there was a period when she stopped collecting because she had to devote her time to studying. Whilst the sticker trend has returned, the doctor knows she can no longer keep up. She still collects postcards with stamps, however.
After returning from international trips, Dr. Suthannama often receives a postcard sent to her home, with a stamp from the origin. It’s a postcard she sent to herself.
“I get postmarks from tourist attractions. Some places have special designs, like the post office at Disneyland or the Taipei 101 building. I get beautiful postmarks from those tourist spots as souvenirs.”
One of Dr. Suthannama’s most memorable trips was to Venice, Italy. Although she didn’t send a postcard to herself that time because she got lost and couldn’t find a post office.
“But the lasting impression from that trip was when a handbag seller in a department store recommended a restaurant that not many tourists knew about; only locals ate there. So, we went searching through the narrow alleys and found a place with a dark, European-style door from the outside. But once inside, everything – the tables, the wall art, the decor – was vintage. Our family was the only foreign table. We ordered food and were confused why they weren’t serving it, until we later learned they serve in courses; you have to finish the previous dish before the next one is served. Everything was delicious.”
Trying local dishes abroad is something the doctor must do when travelling. But in Thailand, she’s more into desserts and beverages. She even has a Facebook page recommending famous dessert shops she’s visited and loved so much she has to share them.
Dr.CaffeinENT
Every working day, everyone usually sees the doctor with a coffee cup beside her.
“I’m a heavy sleeper; I fall asleep easily anywhere. I even find it funny that today I’m a doctor who treats snoring. Because I’m such a sleepyhead, friends often come across me with a coffee cup and tease me, asking if I’ve had all four cups of coffee yet today.”
Dr. Suthannama loves coffee so much that she opened a Facebook page called ‘Dr.CaffeinENT’, a blend of ‘caffeine’ and the abbreviation for Ear, Nose, and Throat. Initially, she intended the page to provide health knowledge, but many people were already doing that, and reviewing cafes was much more fun.
“My page has 180 followers! There’s not much about ENT; mostly it’s just about desserts.”
The doctor has a nickname given by her friends: ‘3 cakes, 4 coffees’. This is because whenever she attends academic conferences, she often orders cake and coffee at a booth, then enters the meeting, forgetting what she ordered. During the break, she emerges to find a full array of cakes and coffees waiting for her, so much so that she has to carry them with both hands.
Latte is the doctor’s favourite coffee. She’s a Starbucks devotee, having achieved gold-tier membership, but lately, she’s started trying other coffee shops. Her new regular spot is ‘%Arabica’ at Park Silom, not far from the hospital, and another high-quality, affordable specialty coffee shop called ‘Pop Na’ (พบหน้า) that a colleague at the hospital recommended.
In fact, BNH Hospital also has ‘Sapha Kafe Rungrueng’ (Rungrueng Coffee Society), a coffee club that invites doctors to experience being baristas and drip coffee together. But Dr. Suthannama is more of a taster than a maker, so she usually waits to sample rather than participate in the dripping.
Custard and Crème Brûlée are her particular favourite desserts; she enjoys them from any shop and doesn’t have a specific favourite.
The doctor also offers a tip for patients visiting BNH Hospital: the ‘Gourmet Primo’ dessert shop in the hospital’s food court offers a 50% discount every day from 5:30 PM. If you’ve got your eye on a particular dessert, you’ll need to queue up quickly, as hospital staff often rush to queue up too.
“I like being a humorous doctor so patients don’t feel stressed. And I try to do my best every day, to give good advice to patients, to make those around me laugh, and to be useful. That alone makes me happy.”
Dr. Suthannama’s first and only dream of becoming a doctor has come true, thanks to herself, those around her, and life experiences from her loved ones. Today, she is passing on the good things she has received to others through her own experiences, whether those be good health, laughter, or the sweet happiness from the dessert shops she recommends.
SUTHANMA NIMSAKUL, M.D.
พญ. สุธรรมา นิ่มสกุล
Speciality
Otolaryngology
Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Education
Medical Degree, Doctor of Medicine, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand
Board and Sub board Certification
The Medical Council of Thailand, Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
The Medical Council of Thailand, Otolaryngology
Certificate
Orientation BNH, BNH Hospital, Thailand
BDMS Doctor and Dentist orientation, BDMS, Thailand
BDMS Doctor and Dentist orientation, BDMS, Thailand
Language
English
Thai
Gender
Female
Schedule
Ear Nose Throat Department
| Day | Time |
|---|---|
| Monday | 12:00 - 20:00 |
| Tuesday | 08:00 - 19:00 |
| Wednesday | - |
| Thursday | 09:00 - 20:00 |
| Friday | 12:00 - 20:00 |
| Saturday | 13:00 - 19:00 |
| Sunday | - |
This is the doctor's regular weekly schedule. Actual availability may vary — please confirm the available date and time when you make an appointment.