Thailand Aims To Be Medical Hub Of Asia

[ChiangMaiAmerican]

While this needs to get back on topic which is Thailand's medical tourism industry, a far greater threat to the US healthcare consumer is the managed care organizatins and their ethically challenged management including some doctors and nurses who act to save money for the company rather than lives. You can rant all you want about physicians n the US. I've seen bad physicians who only care about money but I have seen far more who were genuinely concerned for their patients. As mentioned previously I have seen several physicians who lost their practice for defying the managed care company's edicts that were not in the patioent's best interest. I have also been told by a managed care case manager that they wanted to document the non-compliance of a mentally challenged (ie, downs syndrome) adult patient so they could disenroll him. He had a chronic condition that would affect their bottom line. The physician stood by the patient. That and other similar situations cost him his practice. He regrouped and no longer acts as a provider for any managed care company. You can complain about physicians all you want. Some of the complaints are justified. But as a group the physicians I have worked with out their patients before profit.

[Crushdepth]

Actually this is one hub that has some potential to actually work, if they actually get serious about it (which is of course, unlikely). The major international hospitals in BKK have a very large international patronage already (eg. middle east), and neighbouring countries have a limited number of beds. They also have good facilities and some ###### good doctors too.

It's the smaller/normal hospitals that scare the hel_l out of me - quality of doctors tends to be several orders of magnitudes lower. I know of several cases where unnecessary surgery has been recommended, or hospitals stays extended just to collect the $. Needless to mention the blatant overprescription of medicine, well I'm sure everyone here is already familiar with...

[ChiangMaiAmerican]

There are a number of physicans in Thailand as competent as those in Malaysia, Singapore the UK, the US etc. On more than one occasion I have been to private hospitals for outpatient treatment here. On one ocassion I visited a hospital that was NOT promoting the treatment of foreigners. When I completed the requsite paperwork I was assigned a number and waited my turn. I have never had the experience of seeing a physican who did not speak good English. In some instances these physicans had never studied outside Thailand yet still had a good command of English. On several occasions the physican who treated me in the OP clinic held US or UK professional certification.

[PeaceBlondie]

Since there are no dependable statistical analyses of cross-national health care, we have to rely on anecdotes, our personal histories. I got a nasty infection from the surgery that was done at Chiang Mai's premier intern'al hospital, Ram 1. Original surgeon just prescribed useless antibiotics. Famed orthopedic surgeon at Samitivej (post-residency at Baylor in Houston) wouldn't touch it. Double specialist at Samitivej (residencies in USA also) couldn't cure the infection.

So I went to the govt. hospital in CMai, and the expert there quickly solved the problem through invasive surgery. And I haven't mentioned the incompetent physicians who diagnosed it as contact dermatitis or "I have no idea what's wrong with you."

Is Thailand ready for prime time? No, only 4 or 5 hospitals and mainly for cosmetic surgery and sex operations. And even those hospitals probably don't have the lab technicians and equipment repairmen to keep them going. And are those hospitals ready for the kind of investigative journalism that 20/20 and 60 Minutes use in their attacks against scandals in hospitals? Nope.

So, we're a great place to visit to enlarge our mammaries or penises, or for a facelift. Otherwise, not worth the airfare for most patients.

[ChiangMaiAmerican]

I have been treated in CM but not at RAM. I used a relatively unknown local facility and found the physican competent. I have also seen the lab facilities in several lesser known Bangkok hosptials. Those staffing the facilities knew what they were doing including the quality control measures. I'm sure there are bad hospitals and physicans in Thailand like there are in every country in the world. I also know a professional in the US with internationally respected credentials who found the hosptials and schools visited here were substantially similar to those in developed countries. Bumrungrad was not one of the hospitals visited.

[DeputyDawg]

They shoud read This Topic as should anyone coming to Thailand for medical care

[ChiangMaiAmerican]

They shoud read This Topic as should anyone coming to Thailand for medical care

If a hospital in the US had refused emergency treatment they would be in deep trouble. Columbia/HCA tried that trick in Florida once during the 1990s. The patient was denied entry to an ER owned by the company after he was involced in a jet ski accident and transported there by rescue. They treated the patient in the parking lot and had him airlifted to another facility. The patient ultimately died. The State of Florida closed that facility. I suspect there was a lawsuit and I suspect Columbia HCA was made to pay but I didn't follow that case beyond initially reading about it. I also suspect several people working in that facility had license problems after the incident.

[astral]

They shoud read This Topic as should anyone coming to Thailand for medical care

That is not relevant here. It relates to an accident and emergency cover.

This thread is about scheduled medical procedures where insurance cover can be

established beforehand, or deposits paid.

[Dakhar]

If I may, another observation I have made concerning health care physicains etc Thailand vs America.

In America the physicians think they are a god, in Thailand they really believe they are a god. So physicians in the US may have to CYA at times but in Thailand, they do not like to be questioned, and they get very flustered when they do.

Here take an antibiotic.... But you just said my boy had a virus? Yea, so, take twice the antibiotics then!

AHHHHH TIT

Regarding English.... it seems to be a crap shoot. I have seen some physicians in po-dunk village hospitals with decent Englsih. At least enough to get the main point out. Friendly too. Then I have met some doctors that would struggle with "Cat in the Hat." I have also met some doctors with awesome English.

[AmeriThai]

The original article tosses out terms like, “Medical Hub of Asia”, “medical services”, “medical treatments”, “medical businesses”, which sounds like it’s talking about the entire medical profession of Thailand. But it’s misleading because it’s a gimmick by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to promote the “Proud Asia 2007” trade expo. The only support listed in the article is the “Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons of Thailand” and the “Thai Spa Association”.

With no disrespect meant, the “Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons of Thailand” doesn’t exactly represent the entire medical profession in Thailand. The TAT seems to be obsessed with the term “Hub”. If they want to go hub crazy, why not just promote it as the “Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Hub of Asia”? Or at least wait until other Thai medical associations jump on board to make such a lofty announcement.

What does the “Thai Spas Association” have to do with the medical profession in Thailand? To me, spa services sound like an expensive soak in a jacuzzi followed by lotions, a massage, and cucumber slices on the eyelids.

I’ve lost track of how many different kinds of “Hubs” have been suggested over the last few years. The list seems to be growing longer and the term seems to be getting more meaningless each time it's used.

[MrSnrang]

I finally get it now. It's all propaganda, it's all to keep the stupid ones happy.

[DeputyDawg]

They shoud read This Topic as should anyone coming to Thailand for medical care

That is not relevant here. It relates to an accident and emergency cover.

This thread is about scheduled medical procedures where insurance cover can be

established beforehand, or deposits paid.

Get Real the two are very related.

I think that the TAT who are pushing to make Thailand a medical hub would dissagree, how on earth can you say the two are not related, it is medical care, do you think that some one would willingly come and pay for treatment to a hospital that has this sort of patient care record?

This news item will shortly hit the international press I have no doubt, when it does it will be very damaging to the countries efforts to become a "medical hub"

Every one on this forum who is looking for ANY sort of medical treatment should be aware of this thread.