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Medical tourism: Thailand's Covid response seen as key to reestablishing medical hub


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4 hours ago, dave moir said:

How do you know any of the vaccines are any good? Because they tell you so????

They've hardly been tried and tested!!!!

What the hell do you think the trials that have been going on since May were for?

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4 hours ago, hotchilli said:

It just goes around in never ending circles, bubble tourism, wealthy individuals, island retreats, low Covid cities, medical tourism.... then back around again.

And it will continue to go around until they actually get a handle on where their tourism, both medical and traditional, actually comes from. It may make good conversation to talk about high end wealthy tourists, around the table at Lala Land but that's all it is.

 

I think the case with medical tourism is much the same as it is with traditional tourism - Thailand dreaming rather than looking at what they actually are and which groups make Thailand their destination. I don't really have any knowledge of who visits Thailand for medical purposes but I doubt the rich and famous will care about saving a few thousand baht so they are 'barking up the wrong tree' as usual.

 

I suspect though that overall, medical tourists are much the same as the usual income groups that visit Thailand for normal tourism reasons.  Of course there will always be back-packers etc. but given the flight costs, especially for a family, I'd suggest that the bulk of tourists (excluding the naughty set) are middle class.  Unless Thailand improves the state of its environment and infrastructure, that's not going to change.

 

Talking purely in the traditional tourist sense (but I believe the same applies to medical), consider this: You are sitting in the lobby of your 5 star Bangkok hotel and decide to take a walk outside - as you leave the hotel you notice some ladies in very short skirts sitting on the wall outside, they call out to you as you leave.  Within a few metres of the hotel you come across a pile of stinking black bin bags that appear to have movement going on inside.  Walk a few more metres and you have to step off the pavement to walk around the telephone box that is conveniently located right across the footpath. A few more metres and you can't help but notice the 'shanty town' of wooden and tin buildings that people appear to be living in and more girls calling out "you go wit me?".

 

The same could be said of almost anywhere in Thailand and I'm not complaining - its the Thailand I've come to know and love but the rich & famous?? As I say, its Lala Land.

 

Over the years there has been one group of tourists that, although they may not be the largest, has constantly returned to Thailand year after year - westerners. Despite the geography - I include Europeans, Americans and Australians in that group.

 

Thailand's bosses (governmental and corporate) are constantly trying to attract new groups - often giving them special concessions, longer visas, free visas etc. etc. but they don't seem to stay for long. A few years ago it was the Russians, now its the Indians and Chinese...................always forgetting the old 'constants' - westerners.  I'd go further, they also seem to have done their best to make things difficult for westerners, especially long term tourists and ex-pats whilst courting these new groups. Well, to a large extent the Russians have gone home following the halving of the worth of their currency a couple of years ago.  I doubt the Indians and Chinese will be permanent as their economies develop and they want to travel further away. 

 

So, and its purely my observation - I could be way off the mark but I think Thailand would be well advised to accept what it is and develop what it has.  It would take centuries to change the whole environment of the country and surely its better to value those tourists that have come year in, year out, whatever their reasons may be? It would not be too difficult to substantially increase western tourism numbers - if only the gurus would recognise the goose that laid the golden egg.

 

Target your constants for both medical and traditional tourism - much easier to work with what you have than trying to attract yet another group of short term newcomers.

 

Maybe I'm in Lala Land now?

Edited by KhaoYai
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1 hour ago, KhaoYai said:

And it will continue to go around until they actually get a handle on where their tourism, both medical and traditional, actually comes from. It may make good conversation to talk about high end wealthy tourists, around the table at Lala Land but that's all it is.

 

I think the case with medical tourism is much the same as it is with traditional tourism - Thailand dreaming rather than looking at what they actually are and which groups make Thailand their destination. I don't really have any knowledge of who visits Thailand for medical purposes but I doubt the rich and famous will care about saving a few thousand baht so they are 'barking up the wrong tree' as usual.

 

I suspect though that overall, medical tourists are much the same as the usual income groups that visit Thailand for normal tourism reasons.  Of course there will always be back-packers etc. but given the flight costs, especially for a family, I'd suggest that the bulk of tourists (excluding the naughty set) are middle class.  Unless Thailand improves the state of its environment and infrastructure, that's not going to change.

 

Talking purely in the traditional tourist sense (but I believe the same applies to medical), consider this: You are sitting in the lobby of your 5 star Bangkok hotel and decide to take a walk outside - as you leave the hotel you notice some ladies in very short skirts sitting on the wall outside, they call out to you as you leave.  Within a few metres of the hotel you come across a pile of stinking black bin bags that appear to have movement going on inside.  Walk a few more metres and you have to step off the pavement to walk around the telephone box that is conveniently located right across the footpath. A few more metres and you can't help but notice the 'shanty town' of wooden and tin buildings that people appear to be living in and more girls calling out "you go wit me?".

 

The same could be said of almost anywhere in Thailand and I'm not complaining - its the Thailand I've come to know and love but the rich & famous?? As I say, its Lala Land.

 

Over the years there has been one group of tourists that, although they may not be the largest, has constantly returned to Thailand year after year - westerners. Despite the geography - I include Europeans, Americans and Australians in that group.

 

Thailand's bosses (governmental and corporate) are constantly trying to attract new groups - often giving them special concessions, longer visas, free visas etc. etc. but they don't seem to stay for long. A few years ago it was the Russians, now its the Indians and Chinese...................always forgetting the old 'constants' - westerners.  I'd go further, they also seem to have done their best to make things difficult for westerners, especially long term tourists and ex-pats whilst courting these new groups. Well, to a large extent the Russians have gone home following the halving of the worth of their currency a couple of years ago.  I doubt the Indians and Chinese will be permanent as their economies develop and they want to travel further away. 

 

So, and its purely my observation - I could be way off the mark but I think Thailand would be well advised to accept what it is and develop what it has.  It would take centuries to change the whole environment of the country and surely its better to value those tourists that have come year in, year out, whatever their reasons may be? It would not be too difficult to substantially increase western tourism numbers - if only the gurus would recognise the goose that laid the golden egg.

 

Target your constants for both medical and traditional tourism - much easier to work with what you have than trying to attract yet another group of short term newcomers.

 

Maybe I'm in Lala Land now?

You forgot there are 1.4bn Chinese only 100m of whom currently hold passports so I wouldn't dismiss them quite yet.

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9 hours ago, Emdog said:

Better take care of that covid outbreak that came in from Myanmar first. I admit it has me concerned

  55555555

Covid madai here yeah ???? We don't do CV , not do we look for it ( thanks god ) unlike some others , common sense , logical responce , rather than trying to vent out asymptomatic .

But , don't ever ever kid yourself , it's not difficult ...

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My father-in-law, never left Thailand (in his 80 years), fell sick (coughing and breathing) and needed medical attention.

From a village clinic, where they had no clue, he went to Sopisai, the next bigger city with the same outcome - no clue. Hence he was sent to the Phonpisai governmental hospital (between Nong Khai and Bueng Kan). Same answer there, but they offered an MRI at  THB 12'000; not everybody has that kind of lose change; we helped. 

 

The MRI revealed a tumor - could be tuberculosis or cancer - and referred him to the provincial hospital of Bueng Kan. There the DVD could not be opened (no joke) and my wife and her father were simply sent away. 

That's when the dam broke and I got a far-away brother to come by and do a second approach at Phonpisai; his "outspokenness" could not open the DVD either but they offered another MRI "free of charge" which confirmed a cancerous tumour.

Next step being Udon Thani but no, not the government Cancer Centre south of Udon but the Udon provincial hospital; if they would assess the same, then my father-in-law would be referred to the cancer hospital. 

Can someone now explain to me, why Thailand is anywhere closer to a medical "hub"? They are rated by the way, they look after their OWN people first and I came across the most horrific stories of medical "treatment" and "attention"; irrespective of if you pay (a lot) or not. 

Get your act together, stop that bureaucracy, put experienced doctors into the field (which you need to pay market-relevant salaries) and stop daydreaming. For the time being, Thailand - to me - is the hub of how to lift as much money for as little as possible by the most incompetent people on the block. 

And yes, the first call when hearing about his symptoms was to send him straight to the Cancer hospital in Udon. Over the phone they refused an appointment acceptance as he would have to be referred into the facility by Udon General government hospital, who would do that only if gotten referred from another provincial government hospital which would get to work only if the patient was sent in by a municipality health facility. 

An emergency? Call the undertaker as for everything else it might simply be too bureaucratic ???? 

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I spoke on this once. All it takes is a memo on the things they did to prevent the spread of the virus.  The rest of the world is still dealing with it and I am should experience will have more to say than a simple memo. 
 

Who’s behind publishing this article? There got to be more things happening than this........????????????????

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On 12/1/2020 at 2:21 PM, RichardColeman said:

Personally think they should give up on health care and invest more in old age retirement care homes. According to Yahoo, average care homes in the uk are £27-35,000 a year - pretty sure that would go much further in Thailand.

have you seen the miracles they pull off with the kids lunches here ? tip top portions. i don't imagine the care homes would go that route. 

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23 hours ago, Scot123 said:

I scratch my head when I read some of the rose coloured dribble on here.  I like and used both Thai Private and Government hospitals. My findings were that private hospitals were just very expensive clinics who sent all their problems/complex procedures to the government hospitals. I found the government hospitals to be far better and have the cream of the medical profession there. However, to compare them to my own country is just bizarre and not even in the same league. Insurance in thailand is very expensive and not a guarantee they will pay. A friend had his hospital bill refused saying the hospital was to expensive and he should have went to a cheaper hospital (he went to the nearest hospital where he had an asthma attack). I had it sorted by going to the companies HQ in London. Then dont even get started on the government sanctioned price gouging of westerners and non thai, what is it 3, 4 or 5 pricing structure depending on colour or creed, in any other country it's called racism.  I'll stick to the British Free NHS where I get my free medicine every month at the end of a phone call. 

Factor in the ridiculous currency exchange rate here in Thailand and another reason why I won't be sending clients or marketing it as a Medical Tourism destination anytime soon!  

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Thailand's DPM and health minister Anutin Charnvirakul and tourism minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn joined with other health authorities ahead of a 5 day conference to be held at Icon Siam next month that will focus on the country as a hub of medical tourism for dirty foreigners and those who wish to change their gender.

 

Free silicon for all!

Doesn't he look like his brain didn't get enough oxygen at birth? 

Or did his mom breastfeed him with Lhao Kao? 

 

These " Super Luxury" hospitals like Bangkok/ Pattaya are even more expensive considering the lousy exchange rates for almost all currencies.

 

 

 

    

laughing.gif

Anut9n weird.jpg

Edited by teacherclaire
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Attached is an X-Ray of my right leg. 


Done by one of these Superman doctors who thought he could do it.

 

  Please look at the Tibia Head where the idi+t implanted some metal. 


He didn't even shave my leg, and even a blind would see that this would never work out. The other photo shows what it should look like. 

 

The European doctors couldn't believe that a doctor had done this operation who always told me that I'd soon be able to ride my bike again.

For almost a year on crutches. 

 

  He was too proud to send me to a hospital where they do such operations successfully.

 

I was suffering for almost a year before I decided to go to a European hospital.
This guy is a slaughter, not a doctor. 


Anybody who believes that this was an exception must be a dreamer.
Only those who studied abroad are good doctors. 

 

Thailand is the hub of Somtham and lost dreams with one of the worst educational systems in the world. Not more. 

My leg.jpg

X ray of good leg.jpg

Edited by teacherclaire
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20 hours ago, Traubert said:

You forgot there are 1.4bn Chinese only 100m of whom currently hold passports so I wouldn't dismiss them quite yet.

I'm not dismissing them, I'm simply saying that I believe that as time goes by they may want to travel further afield and that Thailand should look at the value of those that have travelled there for many years instead of continually thinking it can move upmarket.

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