11. Abstract
A Development Guideline for Thailandâs Medical Hub
1 2 3
Anchana NaRanong, Viroj NaRanong, and Sirachai Jindarak
Thailand has been an open country and a well-known tourist place for at least
a half century. It was not until this decade that medical tourism in Thailand has been
surging. Since the 1997 Asian economic crisis, bed occupancy in most private
hospitals has significantly declined, prompted high-end private hospitalsâwhich
invested substantially during the economic bubble to seek out medical tourists from
abroad, mainly from North America, the European Union, the Middle East and East
Asian countries. Since then, every Thai government regime has announced various
policy measures to promote medical tourism in order to generate revenue for the
country. In 2007, 1.4 million foreign patients (including general tourists and
foreigners who work or live in Thailand) received medical treatment in Thailand,
making her a leading destination for medical tourists from almost all continents.
This study focuses on the development of Thai medical tourism and its
impacts on the Thai economy, human resources, and medical costs for Thais. Data
have been collected from hospitals, tourist agencies, and the government.
The study finds that more and more private hospitals have been transformed
into foreign-oriented facilities. This development appeared in many forms (partly
depending on hospitalsâ specialization) such as treatments with high technology, new
treatments at experimental stages (such as treatment with stem cells), and dental care.
Several hospitals have sought accreditation and have been accredited by the Joint
Commission International (JCI), and various marketing plans have been launched to
attract international customers.
Medical tourism has had both positive and negative impacts on Thailand. For
the Thai economy, it generates the value added that is equivalent to 0.4% of GDP.
However, the surge of medical tourists in Thailand has exacerbated the shortage of
medical personnel (especially of physicians, dentists, and nurses). The higher
purchasing power of foreigners has drawn more medical personnel, especially
specialists, from both the private and public sector (including professors in medical
schools) to foreigner-oriented hospitals, and this brain-drain will potentially affect the
availability and quality of medical training in the future. This personnel shortage has
raised medical costs in the private hospitals substantially and is likely to drive up the
costs of the public hospitals and the publicly-provided Universal Coverage Health
Insurance (including the Social Security Scheme and the Civil Servant Medical
Benefit Scheme)âwhich covers most of the Thai population. To strike a balance
under this dilemma, this study proposes several recommendations, including lifting
the regulation that has prevented importing qualified foreign physicians and imposing
specific taxes/fees on medical tourists whose purpose of visit is solely for medical
treatment and use such revenue to expand physician training and retain personnel in
public medical schools.
1
School of Public Administration, National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA)
2
Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI)
3
Faculty of Medicines, Chulalongkorn University
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