Thailand eyes more foreign patients as hospitals urge easier access

[snoop1130]

Thailand eyes more foreign patients as hospitals urge easier access

By Chayut Setboonsarng

 

FILE PHOTO: A general view of Bangkok Hospital in Bangkok May 19, 2014. REUTERS/ Chaiwat Subprasom/File Photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is to ease its novel coronavirus procedures to allow more patients from abroad to get treatment from next month, a top health official said on Thursday, after appeals from hospitals eager to treat their overseas patients.

 

Thailand is a major hub for medical tourism, drawing patients from Asia, the Middle East and beyond. In 2019, it recorded 632,000 overseas patients who spent 122 billion baht ($3.9 billion), according to government data.

 

But restrictions to fight the coronavirus have seen most foreign patients, along with most foreigners in general, kept out since April.

 

While there is no formal ban on foreign patients - except on anyone seeking treatment for COVID-19 and ailments that would draw on resources to manage the outbreak - they need approval for travel, which can be slow and difficult to get.

 

Only 172 foreign patients have been allowed in since a first easing of requirements in July, senior health official Tares Krassanairawiwong told Reuters, adding that 740 people had made official requests for entry.

 

But now more health facilities would be allowed to accept foreigners again, and more are expected to come.

 

"In phase two, another 100 hospitals and clinics will be approved to receive patients, from 120 today,” Tares said.

 

But hospital operators say the process has been slow and they have hundreds of overseas patients needing their treatment, some urgently.

 

"Four of our patients have died because they couldn’t get in," the chairman of hospital operator Thonburi Healthcare Group Pcl, Boon Vasin, told Reuters.

 

"It’s a humanitarian issue because some countries don’t have the capacity for advanced procedures,” he said, citing patients needing treatment for heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

 

Boon said approvals were inconsistent and he urged authorities to clarify and relax the process.

 

Thailand has had 3,404 confirmed coronavirus infections and 58 deaths and has gone more than three months without a case of domestic transmission.

 

Tares, who heads the Department of Health Services Support, said the procedures had to ensure safety but he expected the approval process to be faster.

 

He said he also expected people would be allowed to cross land borders from neighbouring Myanmar and Cambodia, major sources of patients.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-27

 

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[RichardColeman]

TRanslation : we're skint 

[oompie69]

Only 172 foreign patients have been allowed in since a first easing of requirements in July, senior health official Tares Krassanairawiwong told Reuters, adding that 740 people had made official requests for entry.

There is of course that itsy-bitsy problem of getting into Thailand that might need a lot more work.

Otherwise, just another revenue earning idea poorly planned and executed.

[Dogmatix]

Many Thai hospitals hardly had the capacity for the foreign patients they had before. Rutinin Eye Hospital had loads of patients from neighboring countries and some Middle Easterners so it was becoming hard to find a seat in the densely packed waiting rooms and waits for appointments took hours. I feel sorry for those who can’t get treatment in their home countries but feel grateful the hospital has returned to normality without the foreign patients for a while. Definitely no social distancing possible if they return and barely possible without them anyway.

[shackleton]

when I went for my 2 monthly medical appointment international hospital  reported to the usual floor no one there

Whole floor closed down

Asked a nurse she said now floor 1 

So yes the big international  hospitals in Thailand are taking a hit lack of medical tourists 

 

[petedk]

I have seen Bangkok Hospital expand tremendously over the last 10 years (and is still expanding). They have invested millions (billions?) in the quest to lure foreign patients to Thailand. Now that there aren't so many foreigners they are suffering and will be heavily in debt if something doesn't happen soon.

 

 

[Letseng]

1 hour ago, petedk said:

I have seen Bangkok Hospital expand tremendously over the last 10 years (and is still expanding). They have invested millions (billions?) in the quest to lure foreign patients to Thailand. Now that there aren't so many foreigners they are suffering and will be heavily in debt if something doesn't happen soon.

 

 

Less dividend for shareholders

[Letseng]

7 hours ago, oompie69 said:

Only 172 foreign patients have been allowed in since a first easing of requirements in July, senior health official Tares Krassanairawiwong told Reuters, adding that 740 people had made official requests for entry.

There is of course that itsy-bitsy problem of getting into Thailand that might need a lot more work.

Otherwise, just another revenue earning idea poorly planned and executed.

I remember an article somewhere about the 13⁰ patients who had arrived in July. 

 

[Bender Rodriguez]

why would anybody fly to thailand now and what does thailand offer that is not available , almost for free (national health care) in their home country

[Ireland32]

5 hours ago, petedk said:

I have seen Bangkok Hospital expand tremendously over the last 10 years (and is still expanding). They have invested millions (billions?) in the quest to lure foreign patients to Thailand. Now that there aren't so many foreigners they are suffering and will be heavily in debt if something doesn't happen soon.

 

 

BKZk hospital in Udon is doubling in size to snare all the Lao’s over the border

[Lancelot01]

21 hours ago, oompie69 said:

Only 172 foreign patients have been allowed in since a first easing of requirements in July, senior health official Tares Krassanairawiwong told Reuters, adding that 740 people had made official requests for entry.

There is of course that itsy-bitsy problem of getting into Thailand that might need a lot more work.

Otherwise, just another revenue earning idea poorly planned and executed

912 in total from the. 632,000 the previous year.

[oompie69]

2 hours ago, Lancelot01 said:

912 in total from the. 632,000 the previous year.

I rest my case, almost.

If all the different ministries don't sit around a table and plan effectively nothing is going to improve. 

Covid crisis committee, Foreign Affairs, ACT, TAT etc. etc need get together in one room andthrash out a workable plan and implement it.

X department is saying it is  ready but waiting on Y department  or Z department. And so they pass the buck around.

I am sure that the Prime Minister would be able to sort this out in a morning. Perhaps that is what is needed.