Thailand leads Asia's medical tourism boom

BANGKOK: -- Fahad Albusaidi had never heard of Bumrungrad Hospital until he arrived in Bangkok from Oman, accompanying his mother who was booked for treatment.

“If you speak to anyone in Arabic and say Bumrungrad, they will not get it,” said Albusaidi, while waiting for his mother to receive a check-up. “But if you say American Hospital, they will know exactly.”

Bumrungrad Hospital started promoting itself as a medical tourism destination in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when many wealthy Thais lost their fortunes and could no longer afford the American-run establishment’s costly services.

In 2002, it became the first hospital in Asia to win accreditation from the Joint Commission International, an arm of the organisation that reviews and accredits US hospitals.

There are more than 30 Thai hospitals with accreditation now, with dozens more in India, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore. Bumrungrad’s marketing director Kenneth Mays is not overly worried about the new competition.

“You learn a lot in 15 years of serving millions of international patients,” Mays said. “Countries like Korea get excited over 1,000 to 2,000 international patients a year. We see that many in a few days.”

Last year, about 2.4mn foreigners came to Thailand for health services, including treatment at the numerous spas, earning the country an estimated 14bn baht ($466mn), according to the Tourism Ministry.

Thailand has succeeded in medical tourism for many of the same reasons it has succeeded in mass tourism: good service, cheap prices and up-to-date facilities.

Full story: http://www.gulf-times.com/asean-philippines/188/details/355784/thailand-leads-asia%E2%80%99s-medical-tourism-boom

-- GULF TIMES 2013-06-11

According to various Thai newspaper articles I have read the last couple years, there is??? goinng to be a shortage of Thai doctors for the area's hospitals and preparing the doctors/nurses for the 21st Century is lacking. I suppose doctors from India or China will be arriving to fill those gaps.

Next, I find it so ironic how the citizens of Oman or other Arab countries fly to Thailand for medical care. Their rich countries have build the state of the art hospitals but lack good, qualified doctors in their countries. Common to have doctors in their new hospitals from Egypt, India, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebannon, Philippines... a real mix of nationalities and medical education (and English).

I went to Malaccatwo years ago and there is a direct bus from the low cost carrier terminal at Kuala Lumpur to the Makotta Hospital based in Malacca. The hospital has been given many awards and there were Indians travelling there for eye surgery. India has this medical tourism bug.I think each country have specialised in a particular field of medicine and attract well educated specialists to work in major hospitals. I went to Rutnin Eye Clinic in Bangkok to find out if I actually had glaucoma. The specialist was Harvard trained and Thai but to be honest I have been better off at the local hospital here in Ubon. Though nice public areas the actual physician to patient relationship was not as warm as I expected very much like a checkout at a supermarket. I am sure Bumrungrad are doing the right thing otherwise people just do not fly in.

I went to Malaccatwo years ago and there is a direct bus from the low cost carrier terminal at Kuala Lumpur to the Makotta Hospital based in Malacca. The hospital has been given many awards and there were Indians travelling there for eye surgery. India has this medical tourism bug.I think each country have specialised in a particular field of medicine and attract well educated specialists to work in major hospitals. I went to Rutnin Eye Clinic in Bangkok to find out if I actually had glaucoma. The specialist was Harvard trained and Thai but to be honest I have been better off at the local hospital here in Ubon. Though nice public areas the actual physician to patient relationship was not as warm as I expected very much like a checkout at a supermarket. I am sure Bumrungrad are doing the right thing otherwise people just do not fly in.

I remember about five years ago going to see a gastroenterologist specialist at Bumrungrad and being diagnosed immediately across the desk as needing a endoscopy surgical procedure. The astonishing thing about the 5 minute diagnosis was that the second thing after "you need an endoscopy was "that will cost you 30,000 baht." My wife was diagnosed once for a root canal after a 1 minute exam and no xray in a Thai dental office. It is unclear if Thailand is "leading" Asia's medical boom as claimed, but from my experience Thais sure take the lead in instant diagnosis and Dr. quoted prices.

Another instance of private enterprise digging the Thai Government out of the hole it has created for its self.

Tourism, automotive, electronics, health as per this article and many more.

Now the Government has stuffed up the number one export, rice, these things are needed more and more to keep the country afloat.

Another instance of private enterprise digging the Thai Government out of the hole it has created for its self.

Tourism, automotive, electronics, health as per this article and many more.

Now the Government has stuffed up the number one export, rice, these things are needed more and more to keep the country afloat.

Your dot connecting is somewhat skewed Go back to sleep Robby nz-z-z-z-z

I have lived in Thailand for 26 years. My Mom worked in a hospital for over 20 years. I had a motorcycle accident last year. Tore my right shoulder up from my neck to my elbow. I got the best care anywhere I have ever been at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital. The Surgeon, Dr Pratya was excellent. 5 incisions and I was in rehab 3 days after. Rehabbed for 4 months. When I was certified as good to go I went to the golf course and shot 2 over my handicap. 3 months later I completed Offshore Sea Survival and Helicopter Underwater Escape Training. 3 days. Passed, no problem. And it was one third the cost of surgery in America. I am 59 years old..

According to various Thai newspaper articles I have read the last couple years, there is??? goinng to be a shortage of Thai doctors for the area's hospitals and preparing the doctors/nurses for the 21st Century is lacking. I suppose doctors from India or China will be arriving to fill those gaps.

Next, I find it so ironic how the citizens of Oman or other Arab countries fly to Thailand for medical care. Their rich countries have build the state of the art hospitals but lack good, qualified doctors in their countries. Common to have doctors in their new hospitals from Egypt, India, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebannon, Philippines... a real mix of nationalities and medical education (and English).

Yes, and medical tourism sucks the best doctors away from the Thai poor who usually need them the most.

By Thai standards BH and the other big hospital chain BH are very expensive. I had inquired about a standard in office procedure and the price was more than in USA.

I went to Malaccatwo years ago and there is a direct bus from the low cost carrier terminal at Kuala Lumpur to the Makotta Hospital based in Malacca. The hospital has been given many awards and there were Indians travelling there for eye surgery. India has this medical tourism bug.I think each country have specialised in a particular field of medicine and attract well educated specialists to work in major hospitals. I went to Rutnin Eye Clinic in Bangkok to find out if I actually had glaucoma. The specialist was Harvard trained and Thai but to be honest I have been better off at the local hospital here in Ubon. Though nice public areas the actual physician to patient relationship was not as warm as I expected very much like a checkout at a supermarket. I am sure Bumrungrad are doing the right thing otherwise people just do not fly in.

Yeap - prices going up in Thailand. Other countries, including some that can also offer quality treatment, eager to grab some of this business and beginning to give Thailand a run for its money..

Yes, do not believe the hype about Bumrungrad. There used to a website called Bumrungrad deaths!

My understand is the Bumrungrad was built with Arab money. The Americans managed the entire project and now manage the hospital. I wouldn't go anywhere near the place after being told that I needed a 3 night stay for a simple exploratory operation that requires no anesthesia and is a walk in, walk out procedure in the UK. The Red Cross hospital at the corner of Sai 4 near Satorn offers real value for money.

Last year, about 2.4mn foreigners came to Thailand for health services,
including treatment at the numerous spas, earning the country an
estimated 14bn baht ($466mn), according to the Tourism Ministry.

2.4 million foreigners spending an average of 194 Dollar per capita for health services?

My understand is the Bumrungrad was built with Arab money. The Americans managed the entire project and now manage the hospital. I wouldn't go anywhere near the place after being told that I needed a 3 night stay for a simple exploratory operation that requires no anesthesia and is a walk in, walk out procedure in the UK. The Red Cross hospital at the corner of Sai 4 near Satorn offers real value for money.

I think you mean Bangkok Nursing Home. There is also St Louis Hospital on Sathorn, which I use, and Bangkok Christian Hospital on Silom. I've used them all and are of comparable quality/price. Better value than Bumrungrad, although I like the big annual check-ups at Bummy. Although, having said that, I'm just about to pay 50,000 baht for root treatments and capping on 2 teeth at St Louis, but that seems to be the going rate in Bangkok.

Gerrythepoet

Did you have Glaucoma?

Just interested

I have been to Bumrungrad many times over the past 15 years. In my opinion the service and care has gone down while the prices have gone up. Not a good combination. Fortunately there are many other options around Thailand.

My understand is the Bumrungrad was built with Arab money. The Americans managed the entire project and now manage the hospital. I wouldn't go anywhere near the place after being told that I needed a 3 night stay for a simple exploratory operation that requires no anesthesia and is a walk in, walk out procedure in the UK. The Red Cross hospital at the corner of Sai 4 near Satorn offers real value for money.

I think you mean Bangkok Nursing Home. There is also St Louis Hospital on Sathorn, which I use, and Bangkok Christian Hospital on Silom. I've used them all and are of comparable quality/price. Better value than Bumrungrad, although I like the big annual check-ups at Bummy. Although, having said that, I'm just about to pay 50,000 baht for root treatments and capping on 2 teeth at St Louis, but that seems to be the going rate in Bangkok.

I'm thankful you posted that. I'm having a root canal and capping on one tooth done up here at a small but good quality dental office in Pathumthani.

I thought B9,000 was expensive then I read your post at

B25,000 per tooth. They must be treating you very nicely.

My understand is the Bumrungrad was built with Arab money. The Americans managed the entire project and now manage the hospital. I wouldn't go anywhere near the place after being told that I needed a 3 night stay for a simple exploratory operation that requires no anesthesia and is a walk in, walk out procedure in the UK. The Red Cross hospital at the corner of Sai 4 near Satorn offers real value for money.

I think you mean Bangkok Nursing Home. There is also St Louis Hospital on Sathorn, which I use, and Bangkok Christian Hospital on Silom. I've used them all and are of comparable quality/price. Better value than Bumrungrad, although I like the big annual check-ups at Bummy. Although, having said that, I'm just about to pay 50,000 baht for root treatments and capping on 2 teeth at St Louis, but that seems to be the going rate in Bangkok.

I'm thankful you posted that. I'm having a root canal and capping on one tooth done up here at a small but good quality dental office in Pathumthani.

I thought B9,000 was expensive then I read your post at

B25,000 per tooth. They must be treating you very nicely.

It depends what kind of tooth you are having done -front, pre-molar or molar as each has a different number of roots. My root treatment cost around 17000 baht for 1 premolar and 1 molar. The cost of capping will make up the rest of the 50000 and I think with the cheapest material. I checked a couple of small private clinics and they were about the same. Are you sure your price includes capping, as root treatment and capping are priced and treated separately?

They treat me OK, except it's a woman dentist and she chats and jokes with her assistant whilst drilling into my roots! A bit disconcerting, as I can't tell them to stop with hands in my mouth - still it all came good in the end. I still have the caps to do yet.

I will be frank with you. I didn't read the OP. I didn't read the previous 17 opinions.

I simply know, that wherever whenever there is a Boom, a Crackdown or a trumpeted up Initiative, - Thailand is leading... nowhere.

It is becoming anecdotal...

I went to Malaccatwo years ago and there is a direct bus from the low cost carrier terminal at Kuala Lumpur to the Makotta Hospital based in Malacca. The hospital has been given many awards and there were Indians travelling there for eye surgery. India has this medical tourism bug.I think each country have specialised in a particular field of medicine and attract well educated specialists to work in major hospitals. I went to Rutnin Eye Clinic in Bangkok to find out if I actually had glaucoma. The specialist was Harvard trained and Thai but to be honest I have been better off at the local hospital here in Ubon. Though nice public areas the actual physician to patient relationship was not as warm as I expected very much like a checkout at a supermarket. I am sure Bumrungrad are doing the right thing otherwise people just do not fly in.

Interesting that Indians are coming to Thailand. Goa has several internationally qualified hospitals and are promoting them selves for medical tours.

I have been to Bumrungrad many times over the past 15 years. In my opinion the service and care has gone down while the prices have gone up. Not a good combination. Fortunately there are many other options around Thailand.

It seems like more and more I am hearing negative things about Bumrungrad.

I am very sure there are a lot of good things to say for them.

But as the old saying goes the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Here in chiang Mai I was quoted about 200,000 baht for a hip replacement by a doctor who worked in the Mayo clinic for 4 years back in the states.

I was looking on the price list for Bumrungrad and they wanted 450,000 baht.