Medical Hub: Thai Govt Policy "a Burden To Business"

[webfact]

MEDICAL HUB

Govt policy "a burden to business"

PONGPHON SARNSAMAK

THE NATION

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra presided over the launch of the Thailand Medical Hub Expo 2012 at the IMPACT Muang Thong Thani yesterday.

Healthcare operators call for revision of regulations, complain of lack of support

BANGKOK: -- Owners of healthcare businesses say the new "medical hub" policy is causing them problems and have urged the government to revise its regulations.

Many of them have complained of being abandoned by relevant state agencies when they faced business obstacles.

"The government gave us no support for our business. We have had to grow by ourselves and without the help of the government's policy," said Natcha Vejpongsa, the owner of Vejpongosot Co, a manufacturer of traditional herbal products.

Natcha is showcasing her company's products at the Thailand Medical Hub Expo 2012, at Impact Exhibition Centre until Sunday.

Her concern followed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's visit to launch the expo yesterday and her announcement that the medical-hub policy would generate Bt800 billion in revenue for Thai business over the next five years.

According to the five-year policy plan, the government will lend support to medical services, traditional-medicine services, herbal products and spas. Moreover, it will promote beauty treatments, cosmetic surgery and infertility treatments for long-stay visitors.

Estimates put the number of medical tourists who have visited Thailand so far this year at more than 2.5 million, generating revenue of up to Bt121 million.

Most are from Japan, the US, Britain, the Middle East and Australia. The most popular treatments among medical tourists are orthopaedic, cardiac surgery, cosmetic surgery, dentistry, gastroenterology, and health checks.

But when it comes to traditional herbal products, Natcha says the government is failing to support the cultivation of the raw materials - medicinal plants - by local farmers. Medicinal plants that have become rare as farmers no longer grow them include kwao krua (Pueraria mirifica) and hanuman prasan kai (Schefflera leucantha), which are used to relieve coughs and asthma.

Moreover, Natcha wants the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to scrap regulations that have created difficulty for herbal-medicine producers in registering and describing the quality of their products.

Sasithorn Siriussawakul, a manager at the Thai Spa Association, said spa businesses now faced a shortage of trained staff, as therapists were being lured overseas by the promise of higher income.

She wants the government to focus on training more therapists and improving spa service standards to strengthen the industry's reputation and help extend its reach internationally.

"We have found that many foreigners still associate our spas with sex services. This is a bad image for Thai spa therapy," she said.

Chuthamas Premchaiporn, international business development manager at Pan Rajdhevee Group, complained that the pile of paperwork demanded by the FDA for importing medical equipment and beauty-therapy materials was hindering business.

"Instead of helping us compete with other countries, the government has created a burden for us," she said.

-- The Nation 2012-08-31

[GentlemanJim]

Estimates put the number of medical tourists who have visited Thailand so far this year at more than 2.5 million, generating revenue of up to Bt121 million.

So they spent 60 baht each then

[Arkady]

Estimates put the number of medical tourists who have visited Thailand so far this year at more than 2.5 million, generating revenue of up to Bt121 million.

So they spent 60 baht each then

Fantastic copy editing from The Nation.

[Reasonableman]

48.4 Baht each. Same as one street lunch... with a soda.

Edited August 31, 2012 by Reasonableman

[spidermike007]

Estimates put the number of medical tourists who have visited Thailand so far this year at more than 2.5 million, generating revenue of up to Bt121 million.

So they spent 60 baht each then

You are witnessing tremendous math skills. That is one of the reasons why the scientific community in Thailand is constantly being recognized with Nobel prizes, and why they make one discovery after another, that is changing the world. This is one of the reasons why the Thai educational system is the envy of the world. This is why all the Chinese are sending their children to study in the famous Thai Universities. LOL.

[Arkady]

Last time I went to Samitivej main hospital I had real problems communicating with everyone but the doctors. Starting with the receptionist I encountered people who could not speak English well enough to deal with foreigners and, although my Thai is fairly fluent they don't want to speak Thai because it is dangerous for them to let colleagues hear them speaking Thai with a foreigner, as it implies their English is not good enough, i.e. the truth. I ended up nearly losing my rag with a bossy middle aged nurse who made me wait around for about 40 minutes because she hadn't understood I was waiting for an additional test and thought I was waiting for the results of an earlier test.

Three times in the last 10 years I have been misdiagnosed over quite serious issues in expensive private Thai hospitals - two issues that actually required surgery and in the other case I was told I was effectively going blind and there was nothing they could do about it. All the three of this issues were resolved at lightening speed when I bit the bullet and decided to go and see top notch Harley Street consultants in London. I got very successful surgery on two counts ("I am operating tomorrow. Are you available?") and the eyesight issue turned out to be a total misdiagnosis. I had had countless tests on expensive equipment for all these things at BNH over one to two years and put up with the discomfort of the untreated conditions but the doctors could see what was staring them in the face,despite the expensive equipment which was not needed by the English professionals for their accurate diagnoses. So I gave up BNH.

If I have anything seriously wrong with me, I am getting on a plane to London. I may be missing something but from my own experience I don't see Thai healthcare as something internationally competitive. To make things worse they are unwilling to allow foreign medical staff in to treat foreign patients, even though they could potentially raise the low average standards of their own medical professionals as well as make communication easier. You can be sure that the Thais will do everything they can to block Filipino medical staff from coming to work even after 2015 when the AEC obliges them to let them in. Medics from the more developed ASEAN countries obviously have no interest in working for low Thai wages and hospitals in other ASEAN countries will have no interest in employing most Thai medics with their low medical standards and poor English.

Edited August 31, 2012 by Arkady

[mortenaa]

Last time I went to Samitivej main hospital I had real problems communicating with everyone but the doctors. Starting with the receptionist I encountered people who could not speak English well enough to deal with foreigners and, although my Thai is fairly fluent they don't want to speak Thai because it is dangerous for them to let colleagues hear them speaking Thai with a foreigner, as it implies their English is not good enough, i.e. the truth. I ended up nearly losing my rag with a bossy middle aged nurse who made me wait around for about 40 minutes because she hadn't understood I was waiting for an additional test and thought I was waiting for the results of an earlier test.

Three times in the last 10 years I have been misdiagnosed over quite serious issues in expensive private Thai hospitals - two issues that actually required surgery and in the other case I was told I was effectively going blind and there was nothing they could do about it. All the three of this issues were resolved at lightening speed when I bit the bullet and decided to go and see top notch Harley Street consultants in London. I got very successful surgery on two counts ("I am operating tomorrow. Are you available?") and the eyesight issue turned out to be a total misdiagnosis. I had had countless tests on expensive equipment for all these things at BNH over one to two years and put up with the discomfort of the untreated conditions but the doctors could see what was staring them in the face,despite the expensive equipment which was not needed by the English professionals for their accurate diagnoses. So I gave up BNH.

If I have anything seriously wrong with me, I am getting on a plane to London. I may be missing something but from my own experience I don't see Thai healthcare as something internationally competitive. To make things worse they are unwilling to allow foreign medical staff in to treat foreign patients, even though they could potentially raise the low average standards of their own medical professionals as well as make communication easier. You can be sure that the Thais will do everything they can to block Filipino medical staff from coming to work even after 2015 when the AEC obliges them to let them in. Medics from the more developed ASEAN countries obviously have no interest in working for low Thai wages and hospitals in other ASEAN countries will have no interest in employing most Thai medics with their low medical standards and poor English.

I never encountered any problems while speaking Thai with any of the staff at Samitivej..

[Roota]

. . . they don't want to speak Thai because it is dangerous for them to let colleagues hear them speaking Thai with a foreigner, as it implies their English is not good enough . . .

While I haven't used Samitivej, I've been to a number of other public and private hospitals around the country over the years and have never had the slightest problem with speaking Thai. In fact I'd say that most doctors and staff here positively welcome the chance to use their own language. The only case I can think of in which they might be reluctant to do so would be in the case of someone whose Thai seemed a bit shaky and they were concerned about his comprehension.

That said, this 'medical hub' business seems to me to share certain fantastical elements with Thailand's avowed plan to turn itself into the 'aviation hub' of SE Asia.

[belg]

soon you will be able to get a body to body massage voucher on your plane landing in suvi and sponsored with tax payers money

[MILT]

I have had good and bad experiences (language problems being one of them) It's one thing to be able to speak english and another to actually know what one is saying. My Thai sucks big time after living here 17 years. People are misdiagnosed in western countries, receive improper medications and undergone unnecessary surgery. I find the health care here in Thailand decent enough. I have seen it save many of lives and help many people. My wife's 89 year old Yai is a great example. After seeing many doctors, specialist, second opinions she has maintain a decent life. She has been receiving dialysis 3 days a week for the last 6 years, with proper monitoring 3 time a month. Far better care than when I first made Thailand my home. I have had and heard horror stories as well.

Preventative healthcare is a smart idea. To bad it would en up destroying the pharmaceutical Corporations.

Cures are out there for everything under the sun. If the pharmaceutical companies used there vast wealth to actually do the research for curing and preventing diseases they would be the greatest humanitarians on the earth.

[spidermike007]

Last time I went to Samitivej main hospital I had real problems communicating with everyone but the doctors. Starting with the receptionist I encountered people who could not speak English well enough to deal with foreigners and, although my Thai is fairly fluent they don't want to speak Thai because it is dangerous for them to let colleagues hear them speaking Thai with a foreigner, as it implies their English is not good enough, i.e. the truth. I ended up nearly losing my rag with a bossy middle aged nurse who made me wait around for about 40 minutes because she hadn't understood I was waiting for an additional test and thought I was waiting for the results of an earlier test.

Three times in the last 10 years I have been misdiagnosed over quite serious issues in expensive private Thai hospitals - two issues that actually required surgery and in the other case I was told I was effectively going blind and there was nothing they could do about it. All the three of this issues were resolved at lightening speed when I bit the bullet and decided to go and see top notch Harley Street consultants in London. I got very successful surgery on two counts ("I am operating tomorrow. Are you available?") and the eyesight issue turned out to be a total misdiagnosis. I had had countless tests on expensive equipment for all these things at BNH over one to two years and put up with the discomfort of the untreated conditions but the doctors could see what was staring them in the face,despite the expensive equipment which was not needed by the English professionals for their accurate diagnoses. So I gave up BNH.

If I have anything seriously wrong with me, I am getting on a plane to London. I may be missing something but from my own experience I don't see Thai healthcare as something internationally competitive. To make things worse they are unwilling to allow foreign medical staff in to treat foreign patients, even though they could potentially raise the low average standards of their own medical professionals as well as make communication easier. You can be sure that the Thais will do everything they can to block Filipino medical staff from coming to work even after 2015 when the AEC obliges them to let them in. Medics from the more developed ASEAN countries obviously have no interest in working for low Thai wages and hospitals in other ASEAN countries will have no interest in employing most Thai medics with their low medical standards and poor English.

The point you make about the Thais not letting the Filipina nurses in, is a good one. They are some of the best nurses in the world. Thailand despises competition, and dislikes an even playing field. They signed the 6th ASEAN charter which permitted free trade of all alcoholic beverages amongst all ASEAN nations, starting Jan 1st, 2011. This meant Thailand was going to allow import beer from all member nations, free of duty. Has it happened? No. Why? Some players from Singha, and the like paid millions of baht to one of the Senate whores, who blocked implementation of the law. He broke both the law, and the bylaws of the charter, that Thailand signed (in not so good faith?). But, it protected his friends at the breweries, who very well knew that nearly all beers imported under this agreement would be better beers than the mediocre product produced here.