"2 million medical tourists expected by 2009?"

Thai prostitute holding a condom in Bangkok; Thai dancers

THAILAND:

Thailand expects to welcome about two million medical tourists this year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Department of Export Promotion.

A 38 percent increase from the 2006 figures of 1.45 million was recorded. The combined revenue from the foreign patients of THB40 billion (US$1.15 billion) in 2006 is expected to rise to THB45 billion (US$1.3 billion).

Figures have been rising in recent years. In 2002, there were 630,000 medical travellers with a combined spending of THB18 billion (US$519.7 million). In 2003, the number was 973,532 with a spending of THB26 billion (US$750.68 million). In 2004, the number rose to 1.1 million with THB30 billion (US$866.17 million) in revenue. In 2005, the number reached 1.25 million with over THB30 billion (US$866.17 million) in revenue.

The figures may be correct, but critics argue that the practice of some Thai hospitals of counting one patient staying in the country going to hospital on three days, as three medical tourists, and including non-Thai outpatients (and there is a large population of resident expatriates as well a huge numbers of visitors) who only go to hospitals for prescription drugs, as medical tourists, hugely inflate the figure to as much as three times the real numbers.

The political problems of late 2008 caused a temporary hiccup. Curiously, the figures above ignore the loss of medical travellers due to political unrest. No one knows how many medical travellers were lost, but the Bank of Thailand estimates that it deterred 3.4 million tourists from visiting the country. Assuming the political problems are solved, the trend will be year-on-year increases in medical tourists going to Thailand - the disagreement is about how many.

Hospitals involved in medical tourism report some slowdown. But, despite a triple hit of political unrest, increased airfares and recession, they claim to suffer less than expected. Phyathai Hospital weathered the rough times through its focus on Persian Gulf customers. Currently, Westerners account for 5 percent of overseas patients at Samitivej Hospital, but sees more potential in the East than the West. Some Bangkok hospitals have contracts with Gulf state governments.

History of Southern Thai's Kingdom of The Malay Patani:

Following the end of the Second World War, as Malay nationalism was gathering momentum across the border and Thailand was forced by the British to give up its irredentist annexations during the war (the Shan States, Laos, Cambodia, and the northern Malay states), a group of Malay leaders in the Patani region submitted a petition to the British requesting the British Government to “have the kindness to release our country and ourselves from the pressure of Siam,” since they did not wish to “remain any longer under the Siamese Government.” For Patani, they pointed out, “is really a Malay country, formerly ruled by Malay Rajas for generations”. The year 1948 saw the establishment in Kelantan of GAMPAR, the Gabungan Melayu Patani Raya or Greater Patani Malay Association, supported by Tengku Mahyiddin, youngest son of the last sultan of Patani, which sought political union with Malaya. And the political ideology of the most prominent of the region`s separatist organizations that sprung up soon afterwards, such as the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO), the Barisan Nasional Pembebsan Patani (Patani National Liberation Front or BNPP) and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani (“Patani Malay National Revolutionary Front” or BRN), has been the national liberation of the “Patani Malays”.

The Muslims of southern Thailand are mostly ethnic Malays and speak Malay, rather than Thai. They were once part of an independent sultanate of Patani, comprising the present-day provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and parts of western Songkhla, that flourished from 1390 to 1902. That history as a separate political entity and the second-class status and political neglect the Malay minority has endured ever since within independent Thailand, provides the backdrop to the violence today.

Generally, the writ of the Thai kings stopped somewhere to the north of Malacca. In the 19th century, the British detached Kedah, Trengganu, and a couple other Melayu sultanates from Thailand, and joined them to Johore, Malacca, and a few others to form the Federated Malay States. For reason known only to the Brits the states of Patthani, Satun, and a couple others remained subject to Siam (then under the Chakkri dynasty, which has ruled Siam/Thailand ever since the Burmese burned Ayyutthaya in the 1760's).

The problems in southern Thailand are the results of decades of economic neglect, lack of employment opportunities for the local Muslims in both public and private sectors and cultural insensitivity of the bureaucracy. A solution to this requires greater efforts to respond and deliver to the demands of the local Malay Muslim population. This will contribute to building of peace and stability within Thailand.