Be Well opens satellite clinic at Black Mountain

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The Be Well Medical Center is pleased to announce the opening of their satellite clinic at Black Mountain with an opening event held on Friday 12 November, 2021.

 

The Mayor of Hua Hin, Mr. Nopporn Wutthikul, officially opened the clinic attended by local dignities, leading medical professionals from Bangkok and Hua Hin as well key business leaders.

 

After an introductory address by Haiko Emanuel, founder of Be Well, Mr Nopporn Wutthikul spoke briefly on the importance in offering residents and guests a safe environment within Hua Hin including medical care at an international standard. After the official ribbon cutting the Mayor held a short press conference with local media. (Both speeches are attached)

 

For more information visit: bewell.co.th

 
Mr Nopporn Wutthikul address and opening remarks:

I am pleased to welcome you to the occasion of the opening of the second Be Well clinic in Hua Hin.

We have all gone through turbulent times the last year and a half due to the COVID situation and particularly the travel restrictions for foreign visitors. Fortunately from this month onwards, we can expect a return of foreign guests, both long term residents as well as short-term tourists. For a city like Hua Hin it is important to offer residents and guests a safe environment including medical care on international standards. 

 

For years we were already blessed with an infrastructure of excellent secondary care represented through 3 leading hospitals and various specialized clinics. 

 

Since January 2020 Be Well opened its first center at the Banyan resort which added Western style family health care to the city. I was pleased to witness that Be Well was soon able to show the need of primary care among the expat community. However, Be Well also convinced many local Thai residents that primary care is a welcome addition to the renowned secondary & tertiary care facilities in Thailand. I understand that Thai patients are now by far the largest group of Be Well members, followed by 40 other nationalities. I am also confident that short-term tourists will appreciate Be Well's services and it good to see that the Hua Hin airport operators and Be Well have commenced a cooperation to provide foreign visitors information about, and access to, the outstanding medical care in town.

 

Be Well's decision to open a satellite clinic is a welcome addition for patients living in this part of our town. I understand you will start with a limited range of services but no doubt they will extend soon. 

 

My appreciation also to Sansara and Black Mountain who have made this unique location available for Be Well. 

 

I wish the Be Well team all the best with the new endeavor and I wish the patients good health and hope they don't need to come to Be Well too often.
 
Introductory address by Haiko Emanuel, founder Be Well.

We started our adventure to introduce Western style primary health care in Hua Hin in January 2020. Hardly opened we were faced with the biggest medical crisis the world has seen since centuries called COVID.

 

Whether despite or thanks to COVID we since then proved what we had claimed when we started: Thailand needs primary health care both in the interest of patients as well as the community. 

 

Modern patients want holistic health care from their family doctor, the physician they know, and who knows them, and is trusted. Patients also wish a neutral & independent doctor in between them and the specialists & hospitals, as secondary & tertiary care become increasingly complex.

 

Hospitals have to focus on specialized care. With their increasing investments and costs they can no longer afford dealing with primary care. COVID has further proven the weakness of the Thai primary care sector.

While Thailand was burdening the secondary sector and had to improvise with temporary & field hospitals, 98% of the COVID patients in Europe were treated by their family doctor. I have elaborated on this theme in earlier events so for now will not repeat myself but always happy to discuss this subject.

 

Be Well has grown to nearly 2000 members and treats 50 – 70 patients per day, 7 days a week. Initially the dominant group of members were Farang since they were familiar with the concept from their home country. However, the past months every second new member is Thai which shows our concept appeals to them as well. 

 

With the reopening of the borders, we expect to grow by at least 50% next year and that requires upscaling of our capacity. 

Ideally a family health care center serves a community within a 20 minutes’ drive radius to be able to visit patients at home, if needed. It is also a convenient distance for patients to visit us. We extended the radius to 30 minutes to also serve Members further away but that is not ideal. For this reason, we kindly accepted Sansara’s offer to use this location (which is a 30 min drive from Banyan) as a satellite clinic. In all honesty, we don’t know how this clinic will develop in terms of size and scope of services. 

 

Banyan will remain our main center for Hua Hin and this satellite should be a convenience for the members living in this area and possibly we can serve neighboring institutes like the school, the golf course and waterpark. 

 

We start with permanent nursing care during weekdays. An experienced nurse will be on duty from 8am to 6pm and can do first aid, wound care, vaccinations, blood sampling, EKG etc, supported & supervised by our doctors at Banyan. Our family doctors and physiotherapists will visit the satellite regularly starting Tuesdays and Thursdays. Following demand, I trust that in the coming months we will expand services, frequency of doctor visits and opening hours. 

 

I would like to use our gathering today to reflect on what we as Be Well witnessed the past nearly 2 years being part of the Hua Hin business community and put it in a medical context. In our view Hua Hin is the relative winner of the COVID crisis. 

 

Firstly, Hua Hin was able to tap the potential of domestic tourism as no other resort city. While places like Phuket, Pattaya and Koh Samui were suffering we attracted a large inflow of Bangkokians for short stays, temporary escapes from lockdowns, and work from home. 

 

This has set a sustainable trend. Bangkokians have discovered Hua Hin as their second or even new home. Also international companies who use Bangkok as regional HQ have now discovered Hua Hin as alternative.

Secondly, Hua Hin has used the crisis period to prepare well for the return of foreign tourists. Particularly the initiatives to attract regional airlines to come to Hua Hin will be a major push for the growth of Hua Hin in terms of tourism and long-term stayers. What a great job has been done by the airport authorities, the tourist authorities, the municipality and last, but not least, the Phoenix Group and their partners.

 

An important aspect of Hua Hin’s attractiveness is the well-established medical infrastructure. We are blessed with two leading private hospitals and one of the best government hospitals in this part of Thailand. We also have multiple clinics providing various specialized medical treatments. And as Be Well we feel we have filled the gap in primary care by introducing the Western concept of Family Health Care.

 

This medical infrastructure will firstly provide trust for foreign guests that, if and when required, appropriate care can be provided during their stay. Be Well is cooperating with the Hua Hin airport to make local medical care well accessible for future arriving visitors.

 

The re-opening will also open opportunities for medical tourism. While Hua Hin has limited capabilities and reputation for tertiary care, there are in our view great opportunities for medical services in the space of primary and secondary care. 

 

Medical wellness (Chivasom as trendsetter) is an example but also nursing care, elderly care, and ‘end-of-life’ care offer chances for Hua Hin given its strong image as a place for retirees, both foreign and local. 

So recently we jokingly came up with a new slogan “Hua Hin: a great place to die, but we will extend the moment.

 

Another opportunity we see is for medical rehabilitation. Hua Hin has excellent facilities, both medical and non-medical, for post-surgery, post stroke or post cardiac rehabilitation. 

 

Foreign patients who undergo surgery and hospitalization in Bangkok’s tertiary hospitals, are potential customers for rehabilitation services in Hua Hin which typically requires a combination of primary and secondary care which as I said is well established.

 

We are very positive on Hua Hin’s future and are bracing for growth.

 

-- 2021-11-15
 

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