Why do many Arabic people go to Thailand for medical treatment?

[RichardThailand]

From what I've seen the facilities in some of the Arabic countries seem very good so why do I see so many Arabic people choosing Thailand for treatment?

[jackdd]

Probably it's cheaper

[blackhorse]

Wrong. They get subsidized by their government. Think of it like free world wide Medicare

[geriatrickid]

 Depends upon the medical need. The diversion to other countries is due to;

1. Lack of facilities: While the  hospital facilities may be excellent, they are too few  in number to handle the case load. Rather than have lengthy waiting lists, the countries send people  elsewhere for care.

 

2. Medical personnel: It takes years to train the  thousands of specialized medical personnel. One can have wonderful facilities but if the people are not available, those facilities cannot be used.

 

3. Expertise: Some cases are  very rare, even in the countries where treatment is available. It makes good economic sense to send the patient elsewhere and to use  resources and personnel to address more pressing needs.

 

4. Cost: Some procedures are done cost effectively in other facilities. This is a reflection of the procedure, and available resources including personnel. i.e. cheaper to send out bypass surgery which can require multiple surgeons and 10 hours of  a surgery theater, or elective angioplasties and free up personnel and space to process 5-7 emergency angioplasties.

 

 

[Airalee]

There was an interesting article in the NYTimes about this subject...

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/world/middleeast/09iht-m09-gulf-medical.html

 

 

[sirineou]

27 minutes ago, Airalee said:

There was an interesting article in the NYTimes about this subject...

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/world/middleeast/09iht-m09-gulf-medical.html

 

 

Very good article,Thank you  for sharing.

[AlexRich]

Cock extensions are contrary to the teachings of the prophet, so you need to go outside.

[JimmyTheMook]

4 hours ago, Small Joke said:

...and yet the bints puttering about under Bumrungrads chandeliers, in their funerary robes still look fat and as ugly as a hatful of spiders, so theyre not here for the cosmetic stuff！

 

Strange how they have such an aversion to using soap and deodorant, the women that is. 

[thaibeachlovers]

5 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

 Depends upon the medical need. The diversion to other countries is due to;

1. Lack of facilities: While the  hospital facilities may be excellent, they are too few  in number to handle the case load. Rather than have lengthy waiting lists, the countries send people  elsewhere for care.

 

2. Medical personnel: It takes years to train the  thousands of specialized medical personnel. One can have wonderful facilities but if the people are not available, those facilities cannot be used.

 

3. Expertise: Some cases are  very rare, even in the countries where treatment is available. It makes good economic sense to send the patient elsewhere and to use  resources and personnel to address more pressing needs.

 

4. Cost: Some procedures are done cost effectively in other facilities. This is a reflection of the procedure, and available resources including personnel. i.e. cheaper to send out bypass surgery which can require multiple surgeons and 10 hours of  a surgery theater, or elective angioplasties and free up personnel and space to process 5-7 emergency angioplasties.

 

 

As someone that actually worked in a Saudi hospital, I can say that while the facilities may be all that money can buy, Saudi medical staff leave a lot to be desired. They were starting to train Saudis as nurses back in mid 90s when I left, and I would never want to have one of them looking after me.

As for rarity, they have some of the rarest cases in the world due to them marrying first cousins and doctors went there just for the chance to study the genetic defects they'd probably never see elsewhere.

 

IMO, they go to Thailand ( and elsewhere ) to get better service than they'd get in Saudi. It's been a while since I was there, but I saw some very bad Saudi doctors while I was there, and I don't think that would have changed much.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, AlexRich said:

Cock extensions are contrary to the teachings of the prophet, so you need to go outside.

Seriously? I doubt the Koran has any reference to cock extensions as such would have been unknown back then.

While I was there, erectile surgery for old men ( 70+ ) so they could have sex with their new young wives was happening.

[IztwanGurob]

Says some about the arab world today: Even if they have more money than they can spend they still fail to build and staff acceptable hospitals.

[Sheryl]

A post with racist slurs and other hate speech has been removed.

 

The governments of many Arab countries pay for some of their citizens to receive care in Thailand as a means of controlling costs, and also for cases where the specialized care needed might not be available. the rise in Arabs coming to Thailand coincided with increased restrictions on their travel to the US and other Western countries; used to be a lot of Saudis and other Gulf residents coming to the US for medical care.

 

Anonymity is a factor for some if undergoing cosmetic procedures which very many do. (Walk around the area near Bumrungrad, you'll see women with metal contraptations over their noses all over the place)

 

Wanting to come to Thailand for other reasons also plays a role for some.

[RichardThailand]

21 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

(Walk around the area near Bumrungrad, you'll see women with metal contraptations over their noses all over the place)

 

I've not seen this but there again I've not walked around there much.  Do you mean some contraption that's used to help with nose surgery or something else?  

[AlexRich]

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Seriously? I doubt the Koran has any reference to cock extensions as such would have been unknown back then.

While I was there, erectile surgery for old men ( 70+ ) so they could have sex with their new young wives was happening.

I'm not that familiar with the Koran, but I suspect you may be right.

[Snow Leopard]

I can tell you now. Cost and Care. Also medical insurance limitations. A lot of treatments are not covered by medical insurance or are limited. A lot of Arabs are also not nationals of the country that they live in so do not qualify for free medical coverage.

 

I was doing my O&A retirement visa at the Thai consulate in Dubai last summer. Every time I visited the consulate I would guess that 60-70% of applicants were Arabs getting visas for medical purposes. Okay, I understand it is an Arabic country but the amount was huge.  

[Sheryl]

33 minutes ago, RichardThailand said:

 

I've not seen this but there again I've not walked around there much.  Do you mean some contraption that's used to help with nose surgery or something else?  

It is a protective guard used after nose surgery

[Airalee]

One thing that can also be taken into consideration is the fact that much of the wealth in some of these countries is fairly new.  50 years ago, these now oil rich countries were much poorer, far less educated and with much shorter life expectancies which could possibly explain why their healthcare is lacking.  With their newfound oil wealth, they can afford to build some of the best facilities and import the latest technology, but it takes longer for the education levels to catch up.  (See the posts made by Geriatrickid and Thaibeachlovers).  Of course, they could import doctors too, but as it is, most doctors live pretty nice (if not luxurious) lives in their respective home countries so there is little incentive for them to relocate to the Middle East.

 

The charts in the following links really put it into perspective...

 

https://data.worldbank.org/country/saudi-arabia

 

https://data.worldbank.org/country/united-arab-emirates

 

 

 

[tutsiwarrior]

during my many years in the ME I was rarely treated by a local arab national...in Abu Dhabi I saw an indian doctor for acute diabetes/ketoacidosis, in Bahrain a european dentist, in saudi a somali for a colonoscopy and egyptians for everything else and in every case was attended to by filipina nurses...in Jeddah I had a diabetes consultation once with a saudi lady doctor and we had a very useful exchange of info...I attempted to have the same type of discussion with a blustering NHS medic in the UK and the idiot bawled me out for wanting to self diagnose...

 

a girl in a hijab was tasked with giving me an enema immediately before the colonoscopy and she was nervous...her filipina supervisor had to come in and assist her...

 

 

[observer90210]

To the OP - Europe and many western nations have top class clinics, medical facilities, top class beaches, warm climates in many areas yet many eurpeans and westerners come to Thailand either for holidaying or medical. Why ? - The lower price with the good quality nevertheless,  perhaps ?

[Odysseus123]

Because they can..

[dddave]

My home city of Boston is known for it's concentration of top hospitals and doctors.  Prior to 9/11, the best of these, Mass. General & Brigham and Women's had contracts with many of the Middle-Eastern countries to provide major surgical and oncological services. 

These countries paid full rate on every service and provided almost 40% ot these hospitals income.

When 9/11 happened, new visa requirements shut off 90% of the flow of these overseas patients. The financial vacuum nearly bankrupted several major hospitals and led to many closings and mergers.

[Sheryl]

My home city of Boston is known for it's concentration of top hospitals and doctors.  Prior to 9/11, the best of these, Mass. General & Brigham and Women's had contracts with many of the Middle-Eastern countries to provide major surgical and oncological services. 
These countries paid full rate on every service and provided almost 40% ot these hospitals income.
When 9/11 happened, new visa requirements shut off 90% of the flow of these overseas patients. The financial vacuum nearly bankrupted several major hospitals and led to many closings and mergers.

Exactly. And Bumrungrad saw an opportunity and capitalized on it.

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