Could Thailand become the world's hub for medical tourism?

[webfact]

Could Thailand become the world's hub for medical tourism?
STAFF WRITER



BANGKOK: -- Thailand’s sparkling reputation for hospitals and medical facilities is well known throughout the Southeast Asia region, offering international standard service at comparatively reasonable prices.

The government is planning to take this one step further by firmly establishing the Kingdom as an international health hub, working on improving its service while simultaneously increasing quality of life for its residents.

Maj Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd, speaking for the government, confirmed that with the dawning of the Asean Economic Community, Thailand is now in a better position than ever to compete in the health tourism sector as it expects an influx of foreigners visiting the region for tourism and business.

During 2016, the government’s primary focus will be on improving the quality of 172 private hospitals found in Thailand’s most popular provinces: Ayutthaya, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chon Buri, Phangnga, Phuket, Phrachuap Khiri Khan, Songkhla and Surat Thani.

Thailand already has a head start on becoming a global health hub: it has more state and private hospitals with Joint Commission International accreditation than anywhere in the Asean region, while 2014 saw it welcome 1.2 million medical tourists – more than any other country. Bumrungrad International Hospital on Sukhumvit Soi 3 is also routinely placed in lists of the world’s best hospitals for medical tourism.

Full story: http://whatsonsukhumvit.com/could-thailand-become-the-worlds-hub-for-medical-tourism/


-- (c) What's on Sukhumvit 2016-02-15

[Laughing Gravy]

Let me think.........No.

[onemorechang]

No

India will be.

Thailand will miss the boat on cost.

[DavisH]

Only if they have international hospitals with world class doctors (either Thai or foreign).....so...not yet:)

They seem pretty good at gender reassignment though. The hub of sex change. Come to Thailand and get your rocks off

[Laughing Gravy]

Before I get ask why not. There are not enough quality hospitals and Bumrumgrad is only routinely put as one of the best hospitals. If it was consistently it would be better but I still feel more hospital's are required before we start throwing the ' Hub' word around.

[Reigntax]

Short answer. NO. Scams will become too tempting as with every other opportunity.

[IMA_FARANG]

it could.....with competent and wise management.

O course there is the rub....competent and wise management.

And that is not a quantity easily found in Thailand.

As for example....an article I read last year explained why many Thai hospitals preferred nurses from the Philipines over Thai nurses.....The Fillipinsas had better English skills in dealing with non Thai patients.

Right.

[khwaibah]

The HUB of Broken Hubs.

[terryp]

Straight answer NO; not a chance in hel ....just from my experience over the past 5 years from the supposed top Hospitals in BKK ..I now go straight back to europe...most of them cant diagnose a headache here let alone serious life problems…they let the machines diagnose then tell you what pills to pop..or say it could be cancer (that has been told to me 3 times in the past 5 years) …finally told it was a disc problem on my back!!!! …its ridiculous

[aguy30]

Ver little chance of that happening unless the hospital get the pricing under control. Foreigners often pay a much higher price for the same service. Many doctors contract space so hospitals get a percentage off the top of the doctor charges so they seem to ignor the high charges.

Individual doctor greed is prevalent at the big international hospitals. Outpatient clinics in some hospitals in Bangkok and Pattaya are sometimes outrageous high for foreigners. Some doctors charge 2 or 3 times the going rate over other doctors.

International hospital dermatology clinics and doctors are quickly approaching first world charges. They may well be the highest priced doctors in the hospitals.

Had the experience of going to a major hospital outpatient clinic in downtown Pattaya with a Thai with the same symptoms. Same doctor, same exam time, same meds, double the charges with falang special pricing.

[Kopitiam]

Not when the best hospital in Thailand has such issues.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/889975-complaints-procedure-at-bumrungrad/

[never me]

No need to get too excited about it.

Its just the "Spin Factory" at it again.

[phoenixdoglover]

Ver little chance of that happening unless the hospital get the pricing under control. Foreigners often pay a much higher price for the same service. Many doctors contract space so hospitals get a percentage off the top of the doctor charges so they seem to ignor the high charges.

Individual doctor greed is prevalent at the big international hospitals. Outpatient clinics in some hospitals in Bangkok and Pattaya are sometimes outrageous high for foreigners. Some doctors charge 2 or 3 times the going rate over other doctors.

International hospital dermatology clinics and doctors are quickly approaching first world charges. They may well be the highest priced doctors in the hospitals.

Had the experience of going to a major hospital outpatient clinic in downtown Pattaya with a Thai with the same symptoms. Same doctor, same exam time, same meds, double the charges with falang special pricing.

Based on my wife's experiences, I would say the Hospital vs Clinic relationship is unregulated.

The common pattern is: first visit to overloaded hospital, minimal service and low price. Then referral to clinic. Same doctor, better service, higher prices.

All very profitable for certain people I am sure.

[jacky54]

Maybe if they cut their prices by 50%

[TheCruncher]

No

India will be.

Thailand will miss the boat on cost.

Probably they know that answer already, and that is why they attached a picture of what I think are 2 Indian women.

[dru2]

More tedious self promotion.

Edited February 15, 2016 by dru2

[clockman]

Anybody remember the website. Bumrungrad deaths?

[BSJ]

I think the Thai's need a "Hub of Future Possibilities" that way they can all have the same dream!

[leeneeds]

1) Just don't over stay your visa as you may find you have to wait a year for follow up procedures,

2) Thailand used to be the place for dental work now the Philippines has gained a good foot hold,

3) private hospitals are still expensive in Bangkok , my colonoscopy cost 33k in BKK and 13 k in Korat,

same great service !

as always it pays to shop around and costs asociated with procedures will in the end dictate where people go.

[chainarong]

Only if they have international hospitals with world class doctors (either Thai or foreign).....so...not yet:)

They seem pretty good at gender reassignment though. The hub of sex change. Come to Thailand and get your rocks off

They do have international doctors and they all ready do tourist medical health , have been for decades and yes there are 6 hospitals that cater for this, one is at Pattaya, just do the old Google and all will be revealed, and they do all types of medical procedures, I met a lady from the US who was going to get a hip replacement, just to set the record straight these hospitals are audited every quarter by a medical group from the US and the standards must meet US standards, as there are arranged medical tour companies in Nth America and Europe, you'd be surprised just how many use this service , also Malaysia and Singapore do the same , not at the same cost .

[MaeJoMTB]

No for the following reasons,

1. They often overcharge foreigners by up to 15x the local prices.

2. The doctors aren't that good, make many mistakes, and you have to pay them again for the corrections.

3. The labs and test results are sloppy and often completely wrong.

3. India doesn't seem to have these problems.

[scorecard]

Short answer. NO. Scams will become too tempting as with every other opportunity.

There will be lots of window dressing and lots of wow wow statements.

Let's see some focused, seen, and consistent quality thanks and let's see that the health ministry has continuous checks and inspections in place rather than knee jerk reactions after the event.

Yes I'm negative, for a reason. My family has had several bad experiences with two so called '5 star' hospitals in Bangkok, both with no real attention from their management, limited apologies with no real action.

[thesetat2013]

Hehee medical hub. Sparkling reputation? They will say anything to convince people of this. Outside of only a couple hospitals the doctors and hospitals are terrible. Unsanitary, unprofessional staffing, unqualified people who think they know everything if you just let them practice on you. And now! They will lower the testing standards for students wanting to become doctors. Medical hub!!! Hehee

[EyesWideOpen]

Bumrungrad, their shining star hospital, is good and used

to be quite reasonable. However it seemed that they got

used to fleecing their Arab patients, so other patients started

paying the same fleece price. So I stopped going there.....

[3NUMBAS]

Titty jobs are cheaper and dentistry is a tad cheaper but too many deadens from face jobs

[yellowboat]

Immigration also has to stop hassling people under long term care. Something that they just cannot seem to do

[khunpa]

OMG... When will they understand, that being any kind of "Hub" requires real EDUCATION and EFFORT........... not just dreaming and talk.

[LannaGuy]

Thailand the hub of hubs

[Briggsy]

Thailand has a small, by world standards, medical tourism industry. I would imagine Bamrungrad and Yan Hee probably together make up over 50% of the total sector turnover for Thailand.

It is dwarfed by India's medical tourism industry.

It will not grow by any significant amount.

The high income and status of doctors in Thailand, the unwillingness of the medical profession to submit itself to internal or external review and the patronage structure of society means standards of actual health care (not the nice rooms or smiling nurses) will always lag far behind international standards on average and there is little incentive for improvement.

[Lingba]

No way..India and Malaysia..beat them by far...better costs and much much better doctors