I really want to document what I experienced on the familiarisation trip as part of the Thailand Medical Tourism Blog Contest organised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Not my day to day activities since you can read those on my competition blog, but more about the competition, its organisation and how I feel about the experience. My views on medical tourism and its place in Thailand.
To be honest I was impressed by the competition organisation, the sheer logistics of organising and moving 6 pairs of individuals around five different locations with pre-planned visits/schedule must have been a nightmare to organise.
In my own case, having drawn one of the two Bangkok itineraries, presented even more problems, given the normal gridlocked state of traffic in the Thai capital. Just moving from one side of Sukhumvit to the other can take an hour in a mini-van which was our mode of transport for the week!
There were certainly times when we were pushed to arrive at venues on schedule and on two occasions we didn’t book into our sponsored hotels until very late in the evening. I certainly felt very jaded at the end of the week. Added to this was the fact that I stayed in four different hotels in my six days in Bangkok. Understandable, since they(the hotels) were sponsors, but it did feel like I was living out of a suitcase at times and not best able to focus on the task in hand or indeed enjoy the mostly five star opulence..
So how do I feel now about medical tourism in Thailand? Has my experience changed my opinion that I shared in Medical Tourism Thailand-A Matter of Ethics.
“Personally I see medical tourism as a by-product of failing health care systems in countries like the UK and the USA where costs or long waiting times can really affect a persons quality of life.”
“The fact that countries like Thailand(there are others) take advantage of these failing systems to provide top quality health care at a much reduced cost seems to me to be sound business rather than ethics or perhaps that should read sound business ethics.”
“The only real downside that I can see in receiving medical treatment abroad is after care. What if complications arise after you return home? Is there adequate time allowed for recuperation after your procedure? “
Well having now visited some top Bangkok hospitals I have no reservations about the quality of service offered, the range of treatments and the immediate availability of different procedures. Prices are certainly low compared to the West and patient facilities are first rate.
You could simply turn up and if you are fit for surgery for example, then it could happen straight away. As for after-care, in the main I was more than satisfied that this is adequate, although I did question some of the day patient procedures from a layman’s perspective particularly of the cosmetic field and wondered how I would have coped if I had had the procedure.
That said most of the providers I spoke to also had arrangements with hotels or other accommodation providers where a post op patient could recuperate whilst still being near the medical facility.
The trip certainly opened my eyes and I would have no problem recommending Thailand as a medical tourism destination for international patients. However it also raised an important issue for me too.
What about the Thai people and their health requirements given that treatment in most of the private hospitals I visited are way beyond the budgets of the average Thai family? Just how ethical is it for Thailand to be promoted as a health tourism destination with modern state of the art facilities, staffed in the main by Thai doctors and healthcare staff, at the apparent expense of a good proportion of the countries ordinary citizens?
Of course many Thai doctors do work both in the public and private sector and yes many of the hospitals have charitable arms that offer access to deserving local cases. Since private hospitals also contribute to the overall economy in Thailand it would also seem logical that at least some of their profits are ploughed back into local healthcare through public funding/taxation.
But despite my reasoning I am still left with the question, “is medical tourism really good for Thailand and who stands to benefit the most?” What do you think?
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