Thai private hospitals seek to capitalise on medical tourism

According to an economic forecast by TMBThanachart Analytics, Thai private hospitals are expected to generate more than 322 billion baht in revenue this year, up 4% from the previous year’s 314 billion baht.

It said Thai private hospitals’ business expanded by more than 20% over the past three years, adding that it could expand further from the medical-tourism trend in the country.

Meanwhile, Allied Market Research said the value of global medical tourism would expand from 3.7 trillion baht last year to 8.5 trillion baht in 2027. Thailand’s medical-tourism market is expected to expand from 310 billion baht last year to 760 billion baht in 2027, it said.

Thonburi Bamrungmuang Hospital chief executive officer Pitakpol Boonyamalik told Nation Group’s media arm Thansettakij that the competition among private hospitals is high, especially in elderly care, which gained positive sentiment from Thailand’s ageing society.

He said his hospital will focus on providing more precision health care by collaborating with domestic and international medical teams on opening a wide range of medical centres this year.

“The hospital has an advantage from its location in the congested Yaowarat neighbourhood, a spacious venue, and 500-700 medical staff who are able to provide medical excellence to all groups of customers,” he said.

Thonburi Bamrungmuang Hospital recently collaborated with vascular-surgery experts on enhancing and expanding treatment against vascular diseases for patients in Thailand and other countries.

The hospital’s mother company Thonburi Healthcare Group said it will invest up to 2 billion baht to expand its medical services, such as opening two clinics in the South, as well as “cancer excellence centres” in three hospitals – Sirivej Hospital in Chanthaburi, Thonburi Trang Hospital, and Ubonrak Thonburi Hospital in Ubon Ratchathani.

“There are four investment trends among Thai private hospitals – supporting foreign patients, supporting an ageing society, opening medical centres to treat rare and special diseases, and investing in preventive medicine,” the company’s CEO Tanatip Suppradit said.

Meanwhile, Vimut Hospital recently opened four additional medical centres to support working-age conditions, including headache, gastro-esophageal reflux disease and constipation, arrhythmia, and nose and sinus diseases.

“Medical-centre expansion aims to meet patients’ demand for complex treatment and boost their confidence in receiving treatment,” hospital director Somboon Tosbovorn said.

Bangkok Hospital has opened a robotic surgery centre to offer alternatives for treating complex diseases.

The hospital’s deputy director Ekkit Surakarn said the “da Vinci Xi” robotic surgery machines can help boost medical treatment efficiency as it has solved more than 200 cases so far. He added that only seven da Vinci Xi machines exist in Thailand.

Yongyut Sirivatanauksorn, director of Siriraj Hospital, said the hospital has planned to expand its medical centre services to support retirees and foreigners which are expected to increase in response to the medical tourism trend.

The medical centre is currently providing medical services in terms of in-depth health screening, rehabilitation, preventive care, anti-ageing and promoting health balance, he said.