Phuket Medical Tourism Threatened By Taxi Thuggery

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Phuket medical tourism threatened by taxi thuggery

Phuket Gazette

Pareeya Jullaphong, director of business development at Bangkok Hospital Phuket, addresses the meeting.

Phuket Vice Governor Sommai Prijasilpa, who chaired yesterday's meeting.

PHUKET: -- One of Phuket’s leading hospitals has complained that ‘taxi mafia’ are preventing its drivers from picking up patients staying at certain resort hotels.

The complaint was one of many aired at a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall on the topic of tourists being cheated in Phuket. The meeting was chaired by new Phuket Vice Governor Sommai Prijasilpa.

Pareeya Jullaphong, director of business development at Bangkok Hospital Phuket in Phuket Town, told the meeting that ‘taxi mafia’ has prevented hospital vehicles from picking up patients for about one year now.

“Sometimes we have to pick up patients from hotels as part of our service agreement. We have to hire other vans or limousines to pick up our patients, because we do not use ambulances to pick up customers who are not emergency cases. When we go to pick them up from the hotels, local taxi drivers surround our vehicles, scaring our customers,” she explained.

“Fortunately none of our workers has been attacked yet,” she added.

In order to avoid blockades, patients have to walk a long way with their belongings, she said.

To alleviate the problem, the hospital advises its agents to tell patients not to stay in hotels the hospital drivers have issues with.

“We don’t do this to hurt the hotels, but rather to avoid influential people in those locales,” she said.

Bangkok Hospital Phuket was not the only medical facility affected.

Peter Davidson, assistant manager of international services at Phuket International Hospital, said his drivers had encountered similar problems, even when using clearly-marked hospital vehicles.

“We’ve had problems in the past, but we try to manage them on a case-by-case basis and have not blacklisted any hotels,” he said.

There were no such cases when ambulances were involved, he said.

Such incidents occurred with drivers from a wide range of tourism-related businesses, not just international hospitals. The two hospitals are key components in the Phuket inbound market, combining for 20,000 room nights annually, he said.

Phuket’s third private hospital, Mission Hospital Phuket, had no such cases to report. Mission Phuket CEO Atikom Sriratanaprapat said the vast majority of patients arrive on their own or by ambulance.

Despite being popular among expat residents, the hospital does not market its services internationally in the same way as Phuket International and Bangkok Hospital Phuket, he explained.

It was founded in Phuket 72 years ago as a non-profit organization to help the local community, he said.

Source: http://www.phuketgaz...ticle12190.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2012-02-02

[EricBowe]

influential people = criminals?

[virtualtraveller]

paint your limos to look like ambulances. Prevent taxis from picking up people from hospital, offer them a limo/ambulance instead.

It's all so pathetic, you'd think even a half baked governor would have figured out what to do by now.

[KarenBravo]

It's all so pathetic, you'd think even a half baked governor would have figured out what to do by now.

Everyone knows what to do, but, there is nobody on the island that has the power to do it.

[farang62]

It is the same on Samui, has no one heard "don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg" . I have customers and friends who will not come back here because of the rippofs, of all kinds and nothing can be done about it, the popo are useless and always side with the locals. To bad because we live in a beautiful place which is being runed by a few, and nothing is done about it so we all loose.

[Galong]

Are you there Bangkok? Bring some police or troops down and set up a sting operation. Have a hospital vehicle go to pick up some clients, when the bad guys make threatening gestures, swoop in and arrest the lot of them!

Honestly, I can't believe that nothing will be done about this. I'm speaking in future terms because I can see into the future... based heavily on history of course.

[oggie911]

take there taxi linence off all them and make them reapply for a new one and only give them to young guys new get rid of the old mafia n robbers be brave yingluck be brave

[thaiIand]

wheres fidel castro when you need him

[steelepulse]

As long as the enormous backhanders are being handed out,things won't change. I ave a feeling if the BKK people come down, they'll get their slice of the pie and report back to BKK that all is OK and everything has been straightened out.