Medical Tourism Article In Fastcompany

[Prakanong]

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/125/medical-leave.html

Got my copy of the mag today and noticed this article - its also available online above

This was coincidental as I attended the Pharmaceutical Asia Conference 2008 in Singapore last week and medical tourism was mentioned more than once - not too detailed though as the conference was not about that but in context of providing much higher cost drugs into the Asian market ie Onco and surgical

Thailand was also singled out as a growth area in helath care spending - 16% in the next few years - interesting as our internal projections differ on which markets are most attractive in Asia - we all agree about India China and Korea but the Viet market is where I think Big Pharma and the researchers diverge.

Edited April 27, 2008 by Prakanong

[LaoPo]

Thanks for the article Prakanong.

Medical 'tourism' will grow enormous in the next coming years and decades.

LaoPo

[Prakanong]

Thanks for the article Prakanong.

Medical 'tourism' will grow enormous in the next coming years and decades.

LaoPo

Thailand is well positioned to take advantage of this growth too. Projected in Asia to be 4.4 Billion USD by 2012

I have a table of current perceived strenghts and weaknesses of each of the players - Thailand winns on cost and cost - Singapore on technology etc but others will catch up

India is now appearing on the horizon too but Singapore does not seem to get much apart from Burmese Junta, Indo's and some Malay's.

One of the presentations last week covered Thailands demographics circa 2013

- Already more female Uni graduates than men each year - this gap will grow wider

- 9 million househoolds will have no children

- 27% of Thailands population will be over 60 years old

Implication that Thai healthcare demand will be driven by empty nesters, working singles and the aged

[ilyushin]

Great article.

[t.s]

Great article.

recent medical tourism numbers are taking a bit of a hit partially due to exchange rates

[Prakanong]

Great article.

recent medical tourism numbers are taking a bit of a hit partially due to exchange rates

Not all medical tourists are from the USA?

[PaddyThai]

Interesting article. Brought my Daughter to that Hospital once and was very impressed.

I wonder, if retiring to Thailand, with inevitable future medical care needs, would one ;

1. Get health insurance in Thailand to cover medical expenses in Thailand.

2. Continue to pay insurance in home country but have procedures done in Thailand.

3. Keep saving and rely on savings.

Advice appreciated.

[astral]

Care needed in choosing the hospital and doctor as there are some bad apples,

but that can apply in any country.

I would not like to fly in and have the operation the next day, as some do.

[Scott]

My God, I never thought I'd live here long enough to see such a change: from sex tourism to medical tourism! I guess it's a good sign, really!

[Johpa]

Great article.

recent medical tourism numbers are taking a bit of a hit partially due to exchange rates

The savings have the potential to make the exchange rate insignificant. My wife's surgery in Thailand cost just shy of $3,000. The same surgery in the US would have cost a minimum $40,000. Even with medical insurance we saved thousands of out of pocket money.

[Prakanong]

Great article.

recent medical tourism numbers are taking a bit of a hit partially due to exchange rates

The savings have the potential to make the exchange rate insignificant. My wife's surgery in Thailand cost just shy of $3,000. The same surgery in the US would have cost a minimum $40,000. Even with medical insurance we saved thousands of out of pocket money.

Of course - with up to 90% savings a few % points either way in the exchange rate are insignifricant.

I like the comparison to Toyota and the fact that high volume low cost procedures will be first to be globalised.

[Dakhar]

As a person that works in the medical field, I can tell you that Thailand is far behind. The sad thing is, they have the nice equipment, but they do not have the qualified employees to use the equipment. (which is really why I am here, I train people on how to use the diagnostic equipment)

But it is pretty difficult, when it is difficult to find trainees with basic English skills. All the equipment manuals etc are based in English.

So would I select Thailand for invasive medical procedures? Not if I could help it.

Thailand is also lacking when it comes to modern procedures.

For examples testing for TB. The tine test is considered obsolete & inacurate by the modern world, but you can find private hospitals using the test. There is a new test called the Quanti Feron Gold for TB, and only Bumongrad uses this test and even then most of the employees even know: 1) Anything about it. 2) Or that it is even available in the first place.

[andy1308]

The current issue of BusinessWeek Thailand (in Thai, sorry I don't have a translation) also has an article on medical tourism in Thailand, and how Thailand has been falling behind in recent years as other countries get their acts together and become more competitive.

[Prakanong]

Dhakar

I also work in the health fields - in Pharma - and we consider some of our Thai sites some of thebest in the Region if not the world - they do appear in our top quadrant just behing HK which we have as number 3 in the world.

We are not measuring like for like though in our respective fields. It does depend on the criteria of course and ours is geared towards producing high class data quickly at low cost.

BTW: The conference I mentioned in my first post had plenty to say abou the growth of the diagnostics and medical device market in Asia. A guy on my MBA is from a German medical device company and he is looking into openeing an Asian office - I told him to forget Thailand and get down to Singapore.

[Dakhar]

Depending on the device, my co. may be interested in distribution of the device. That is one of the things we do, we are distributors for anything regarding hearing, speech & balance medical devices & diagnostic equipment.

I work specifically in Audiology, and Singapore has NO audiology Univ. programs. Yea, you read that correctly. New Zealand has 2, HK 1, Taiwan 1 and China has a hand full, but their qualifications are not the same around the country. One could be a Tech certificate, one a BS or one an MS....

Singapore is much the same, because they import their audiologists, so they range in qualifications.... from a certificate, to an American trained Doctorate degree.

A crap shoot.........

[Prakanong]

The guy from the MBA was in a company into stents and the like but looking to expand.

I must admit its an area I know nothing about being in pharma but specifcally vaccines at the moment.

Singapore is strange - its only recently they were getting their act together regarding opthamolgists where anyone could set themselves up in a glasses shop until recently.

Then for medical qualifications they do restrict the list of Uni's you can be qualified from quite tightly.

[Pepe']

Great article.

recent medical tourism numbers are taking a bit of a hit partially due to exchange rates

------------------

What type of surgery?

The savings have the potential to make the exchange rate insignificant. My wife's surgery in Thailand cost just shy of $3,000. The same surgery in the US would have cost a minimum $40,000. Even with medical insurance we saved thousands of out of pocket money.