Thai Top Hospitals To Expand To Compete With Foreign Community

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HEALTHCARE

Top hospitals expanding, moving to lift standards

By Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

Building centres of excellence for expertise, training

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's leading medical schools - including Siriraj, Ramathibodi, and Chulalongkorn hospitals - will invest Bt24 billion to develop medical centres of excellence and lift the Kingdom's research and services to compete with the international community.

At the same time, the Thailand Development Research Institute has warned medical schools they should not compete with the private sector for foreign patients - but focus instead on their role in teaching medical |students.

The Health System Research Institute (HSRI)'s director Dr Pongpisut Jongudomsuk has expressed concern over what he called double standards of treatment provided by medical schools for foreign and local patients, pointing out the increasing number of centres for medical excellence in medical schools.

These medical schools, he said, should concentrate on treating local people before seeking fee-paying foreign patients.

"We have to think about how to help medical schools develop a medical hub policy, but without causing a negative impact on the nation's health care system," he said.

Associate Professor Adisorn Patradul, dean of Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Medicine, said the hospital had invested Bt12.5 billion to build a medical excellence centre and medical care building.

The medical excellence centre will treat complex diseases and conduct research to lift the standard of medical services. It will be housed in 13 floors of a new 29-storey building. The new building is expected to be operational in four years.

At present, the hospital's centres involve research into breast cancer, Parkinson's disease, cancer, thalassaemia, and stem cell research - which it sees as another treatment option for the future . Soon it will open centres for sleep disorders, endoscopic surgery, and accidents.

He said public services would be provided at the medical care and excellence centre, which will offer surgery, an intensive care unit and research centre.

The Bhor Por Ror building would also provide medical services for outpatients, while the Sirikit building would do surgery and treatment for heart disease and the brain. There would also be public medical services at the out-patient building.

At Ramathibodi Hospital, director Dr Rajata Rajatanavin said Bt6 billion would be invested to develop a faculty of medicine with the aim of making it a leading Asian hospital. It will be sited at Samut Prakan's Bang Phli district, where the Treasury Department has given 300 rai for construction.

Work will start in October with a 2015 completion date. It will operate as a referral and education centre, training medical students and specialists in all fields, including public health research into family medicine and occupational diseases related to industrial activities.

Rajata said many workers at industrial sites at Samut Prakan lacked treatment for occupational diseases.

Ramathibodi's Bang Phli branch will cover people in seven provinces in the east and act as a referral centre for patients with complex conditions for treatment at the hospital's head office on Rama VI.

Four years after construction, the Ramathibodi hospital's Bang Phli branch should have 400 beds. The hospital at Rama VI currently has 1,300.

Siriraj's medical faculty dean, Clinical Professor Teerawat Kulthanan said the hospital was spending Bt6 billion building a centre for medical research and services. It is expected to receive 1,500 to 2,000 patients a day and employ 1,700 medical staff.

The centre will conduct research in three areas: molecular, biogenetic and post genomic, to improve quality of medical services, medical products, and basic medical science research.

The centre will also serve at least 10 big research projects to try to attract international researchers to work on general and new or "emerging" diseases.

He said the operations of the centre would not affect regular medical services to patients at Siriraj Hospital. At present, over 2 million outpatients and 70,000 inpatients undergo treatment at Siriraj each year.

Teerawat said 45 per cent of Siriraj patients could afford to pay for treatment. Just 2 to 5 per cent were foreign. "There are no double standards for medical services at Siriraj," he commented.

The medical excellence centre would generate income from people who could afford expensive treatment, but the prices would be 30 to 40 per cent cheaper than those at private hospitals. The money would support medical care for poor patients.

Teerawat said the hospital had a shortage of nurses as many were leaving to work at private hospitals. It has asked the Faculty of Nursing to lift its number of graduates from 200 a year to 240. It has also requested nurses from the Royal Thai Navy.

Viroj na Ranong, a senior official at the Thailand Develop-ment Research Institute (TDRI), who conducted a study on the Thailand medical hub idea, said he approved of medical schools developing excellence centres - if the goal was to encourage workers for state hospitals.

He said medical schools should not compete with the private sector for foreign patients, but focus on their educational role in teaching medical students.

"They should not use public resources to provide medical services for foreign rather than domestic patients. This exceeds the role of medical schools supported by the government's budget," he said.

The medical hub policy was initiated in 2003 by the Thaksin government to generate income from medical services by providing treatment for foreign patients, with the country as Asia's medical centre.

A study conducted by TDRI found that 1.4 million foreign patients receive medical services at private hospitals in Thailand each year. This brought in an income of Bt46 to Bt52 billion from foreign patients in 2008.

However, the study suggested the medical hub policy might force medical workers, especially specialists at state hospitals, to work in private hospitals because of their higher salaries.

"Only newly graduated doctors will work at state hospitals to provide medical treatment to poor patients while specialists will head to private hospitals to treat rich patients. So, this will affect the nation's health security," Viroj warned.

-- The Nation 2010-03-02

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[engrin]

To serve or to compete?

[doggie888888]

Aw, we have been spared the word "hub"...I suppose Thailand cannot be a healthcare hub since it is already set to become an education hub, a design hub, an aviation hub, a manufacturing hub and other hubs of vague outcomes and confused implementations. There really is not enough space here (nor grey matter) to accomodate so many hubs!

[Starrysky]

I hope some money will be allocated for improving the English skills - and possibly other common languages - particularly amongst the nursing staff. For this to happen, they would have to be taught by competent language instructors with special emphasis on medical language. Perhaps even be sent abroad for a period? One of my complaints about 'international' institutions in Thailand has always been the staff's inability to communicate fluently in English. During a short stay at the Bangkok Phuket hospital in Phuket, a gaggle of 5 nurses came into my room. All they could say to me in English was: 'you headaitch?'. Luckily, I wasn't seriously ill and can speak some Thai. But for any patient who can't speak any Thai, this scenario could have led to unnecessary stress.

[Colabamumbai]

I can highly recommend St. Louis Hospital in Sathorn for any treatment for foreigners. Most of the doctors speak English you will be looked after quickly and efficiently. The signs posted everywhere in English say,"If you have to wait more than fifteen minutes please notify us." Whether it is just to see a doctor for the first time, or in the emergency department, or when you go to pay your bill. They will ask for your passport number as the would ask a Thai person for their I.D. card. They apologized to me saying that there were five people ahead of me. I could not get that kind of service in Canada where the government pays for everything, even if I tried to pay for it.

[ovaltina]

I've been in more Thai hospitals than I can remember, mainly around the capital and I've always found them clean & efficient & both the Doctors and Nurses friendly and extremely well-trained. Their English language usually passable, sometimes fluent.

I've spent a lot of my life in hospitals and the best hospital I've ever stayed in, was Piyavate Bangkok where I've had double total hip-replacement surgery, spinal cord work, multiple sclerosis treatment, & also neuro updates for hyperconvulsia. I was there for over 3 months, and obviously skeletal surgery costs money, as does neurological MRI work. The Doctors there are literally world-class, travelling around the world to give lectures etc. The Nurses there monitored me 24 hrs/day and actually answered the Nurse call panic-button (which was a new experience for me as an Englishwoman) came to see me after work in their casual clothes and chatted (unpaid ,on their own time). They gave me a birthday party too, again on their own free-time. Nurses & staff fees bill on the final receipt was tiny, I believe that they put in extra effort and kindness because they actually care & don't like seeing people suffer, be they foreigner or Thai. I love Thai people, and Thai Doctors & Nurses are the best in the world : in my opinion.

In England on the NHS I have been in horror-wards, I don't even talk about them. And even UK Bupa is £180 for a one-hour consultation in a dingy room with some hatchet-faced unsmiling person. I can stay a week in private Thai hospital for the same cost (not including surgery/ MRI / medicines obviously), with food & 24-hour friendly staff & sunlight shining through the window.

I also reject any notions that Western health~tourists exploit the lower prices in Thailand. In my experience, the Hospital Staff are happy to treat Westerners, because they ask us about music,films,culture of the West, and it is interesting for them to talk to English patients on their lunch breaks etc., in the same way many Westerners are fascinated by SEAsian culture. I leave hospitals in Thailand with lists of email adresses of new friends, in both Doctor & Nursing staff, friendly smiles & hugs & I'm always feeling healthier too.

Very friendly, very professional & very safe place for people with serious illnesses like me.

[Bagwan]

At Bumrungrad a junior doctor referred me to the Urology department. Her nurse took me to the Neurology department. The Neurologist sat listening to me telling him about the ache I had behind my naughty bits and that a doctor at a Pattaya hospital had told me that it was probable that I was having too much sex. At this he burst into laughter. When he had composed himself he explained that I had been taken to the wrong department and then thanked me for brightening up his day. I was then taken to the proper department where it was discovered that I had an enlarged prostate. Since the proposed treatment was in my opinion very OTT I said that I would go away and think about it. Since then all symptoms have disappeared - and that was three years ago. Physician heal thyself?

[Neeranam]

I can highly recommend St. Louis Hospital in Sathorn for any treatment for foreigners. Most of the doctors speak English you will be looked after quickly and efficiently. The signs posted everywhere in English say,"If you have to wait more than fifteen minutes please notify us." Whether it is just to see a doctor for the first time, or in the emergency department, or when you go to pay your bill. They will ask for your passport number as the would ask a Thai person for their I.D. card. They apologized to me saying that there were five people ahead of me. I could not get that kind of service in Canada where the government pays for everything, even if I tried to pay for it.

If Thai people visit your country, do you expect them to learn it's language?

[phetaroi]

I hope some money will be allocated for improving the English skills - and possibly other common languages - particularly amongst the nursing staff. For this to happen, they would have to be taught by competent language instructors with special emphasis on medical language. Perhaps even be sent abroad for a period? One of my complaints about 'international' institutions in Thailand has always been the staff's inability to communicate fluently in English. During a short stay at the Bangkok Phuket hospital in Phuket, a gaggle of 5 nurses came into my room. All they could say to me in English was: 'you headaitch?'. Luckily, I wasn't seriously ill and can speak some Thai. But for any patient who can't speak any Thai, this scenario could have led to unnecessary stress.

I think you missed the point of the article. It's specifically about improving medical services for local people. I'm not against anyone learning a higher level of English, but I don't see how that relates to this article.

[Colabamumbai]

I can highly recommend St. Louis Hospital in Sathorn for any treatment for foreigners. Most of the doctors speak English you will be looked after quickly and efficiently. The signs posted everywhere in English say,"If you have to wait more than fifteen minutes please notify us." Whether it is just to see a doctor for the first time, or in the emergency department, or when you go to pay your bill. They will ask for your passport number as the would ask a Thai person for their I.D. card. They apologized to me saying that there were five people ahead of me. I could not get that kind of service in Canada where the government pays for everything, even if I tried to pay for it.

If Thai people visit your country, do you expect them to learn it's language?

Well it would be beneficial for them to have an understanding of the language if they intend to live there, so they may ask for what they need. In Canada we have a very small Thai community who could help you but on a day to day basis you would feel more comfortable knowing some of the language and something about the culture of Canada and Canadians. Many immigrants need the "cultural experience" in order to get employment. I intend to live in Thailand the rest of my life and I am at a Thai Language school. That is the first thing I do here and then my life is easier. I see too many foreigners here who can only eat at McDonalds because they don't know how or what to order in a restaurant, for an example. Also I feel more like a part of the country or people if I can speak Thai.