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| Wat Rong Khun - White Temple |
Thailand’s medical tourism had been badly battered by troubles earlier this year, particularly in and around Bangkok. Phuket by the way suffered very little and is keen to promote itself as a safe and affordable destination, even at the cost to local rival Bangkok.
“With droves of expatriate foreigners having moved out of Thailand, hospitals like Bumrungrad Hospital and Bangkok Hospital Medical Center are working on solidifying their home base and focusing efforts on bringing back local Thai residents, who often view these high end private hospitals as too expensive. Both hospitals continue to draw medical travellers from surrounding countries like Burma, Bangladesh and Indonesia, and from the Middle East. Thailand as a medical destination was not put on the medical travel map by government policies, it was the top hospitals, and they will continue to do this, with or without official government support.”
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Medical and healthcare providers on the island of Phuket can expect to get a large slice of the 402.9 billion baht that the Thai Ministry of Health expects Thailand’s medical tourism industry to take over the next five years, says Dr Wiwat Seetamanotch of Phuket Public Health, “Over the past five years, Phuket has enjoyed great success in health services provided to tourists and earned a huge amount of money. In addition, health services here are cheaper than in neighboring countries.”
The MoH, according to its current five-year plan for 2010 to 2014, expects medical tourism to generate 400-billion-baht .The previous plan, for 2004-2008, concentrated on providing medical services to patients from abroad. Under that plan, the MoH aimed to make Thailand the centre of excellent healthcare in Asia through treatment businesses, health supplement businesses, health products and Thai herbs. The current plan targets developing the same businesses and products, but adds more services in the realms of Thai traditional medicine and alternative medicine. The move follows Thailand’s enjoyment of huge growth in its medical tourism over the past decade.
According to MoH statistics, although these are only estimates based on information from hospitals and include holidaymakers, business travelers and expatriates, 550,161 foreign patients received treatment or healthcare in Thailand in 2001, while in 2007 that number had swelled to 1,373,807. Most were Japanese, followed by Americans and Europeans. Although key markets claimed are Japan, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Myanmar and Indonesia, in reality, 80% come from South-East Asia including Japan and Indonesia. An estimated 70% of the foreign patients during that period were medical tourists, with 25% being expatriates and less than 5% being tourists. The most popular health services during that year were health checks, heart operations, knee replacements, cardiovascular surgery, cosmetic surgery, gender reassignment surgery, dental care and Lasik corrective eye surgery.
Dr Wiwat expects the number of medical tourists to Phuket to increase dramatically in the coming years, “In addition to three government hospitals in Phuket, there are also three private ones that are recognized as international standard.”
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| Wat Rong Khun |
Bangkok can regain its top place in Thailand, but it will require more work than the authorities are currently putting in: “Whether Bangkok can restore its prominence as a medical destination hinges on how the Thai government, specifically Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), acts to promote Thailand for medical tourists in the coming year. Sustained and cohesive promotion efforts are not likely to happen soon. While TAT has been working on a medical tourism marketing plan for almost a year, it has faced leadership changes and budget cuts. It has had to put other priorities, namely bringing back tourists - any tourists - ahead of promotion of medical travel and health tourism. TAT has, however, announced that it will continue promotion of Thailand's spa, wellness and medical services in the Middle East, but not medical tourism. The private hospitals have their own problems.”
Without coordinated promotion of medical tourism by government and trade groups, will hospitals like Bumrungrad International or Bangkok Hospital Medical Center be able to maintain their position within the global or even regional medical tourism industry? Will Bangkok lose out to the northern city of Chiang Mai or the tropical island of Phuket?
“What remains of Thai medical tourism will continue to favor Bangkok. Phuket has daily international flights by regular and discount airlines to dozens of regional cities, and it has lovely resorts - now mostly empty. But its two private hospitals, Phuket International and Bangkok Phuket, are considered by most local expat residents a clear second choice, and prefer flying into Bangkok for care. The two private hospitals are considered expensive, with high hospital costs and doctor fees.”
Phuket is to be the home of the country’s first purpose built “Health Promotion Hospital”, co-funded by the Chinese government. The Kamala Public Health Center will incorporate traditional Chinese medicines into its array of medical services. To be completed next year, it will initially offer health checkups and traditional Thai massages to both Thais and foreigners.
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