Upon approval of the strategic plan to develop Thailand as a Medical Hub of Asia, the plan aims to promote associated sectors consist of medical care services, health promotion tourism, and Thai herbal & health items. The core company in the medical care services is the private hospitals and the number is now up to 256 private hospitals all more than the nation. In addition, there is way more than a hundred of private hospitals be in a position to accommodate the foreign customers. Since 2002 the number of foreign customers in Thailand is high and has risen just about every year. There had been 1.42 million foreign customers making use of medical care services in Thailand and made income up to 37,300 million Baht particularly in 2007.The medical care services distribute income to other linkage industries, for example, pharmaceutical, medical equipment, medial tourism, hotels, restaurants, etc. consequently, the growth bring about job creation and economic expansion overall .Accordingly, the importance of those organizations to tourism business triggered Tourism Authority of Thailand to study the Structure of Organization Investment in the Medical Tourism Business associated to the significant business : private hospitals and its linkage industries in order to obtain valuable data to additional develop tactics and policies to promote and bolster the medical tourism business.Purposes of the Study
Boost the competitiveness of the entrepreneurs and investors of each significant-sized enterprises and tiny and medium enterprises (SMEs). Support medical tourism-linkage industries. Promote investment in the tourism business. Decrease investment issues and obstacles in dealing with the government sector.
Scope of the Study
Target group : The target of this study can be divided into three groups as follows Important business entrepreneurs: The names of the private hospitals with the possible to accommodate foreign tourists or customers had been sorted out from the official national private hospital list of Therapeutic Illness Division, Department of Wellness Support Services, Ministry of Public Wellness (Information on September 2008). It is found that there are 132 private hospitals nationwide which are eligible for this study. Linkage business entrepreneurs: 37 linkage business entrepreneurs with the possible to accommodate foreign tourists or customers had been chosen by purposive sampling so as to be the sample of each business. Authorities and policymakers: 12 medical tourism public organizations and associations had been chosen. Important competing countries: The possible competing countries in the exact same region with the goal to promote their medical tourism and to attract foreigne rs to use medical care services within their countries, namely, Singapore, Malaysia, India, and South Korea had been chosen. Target regions: In this study, the target regions are divided into three regions by the possible in terms of tourism and medical care services, and in each area, there are possible private hospitals as follows High Potential Tourism Provinces : 92 Potential private hospitals. Medium Potential Tourism Provinces : 29 Potential private hospitals Border Provinces : 11 Potential private hospitals
Terms:Medical Tourism refers to the traveling with the objective to obtain medical care services in regular hospitals or medical centers. The activities involve remedies, health prevention and health rehabilitation, for example, check-up, medical remedies, dentistry, cosmetics surgery, transsexual surgery, etc. This study disregards holistic health or health promotion tourismPotential private hospital refers to the hospital which fulfils the following criteria:
Supplies medical care services with contemporary medical equipment and technology by specialist medical doctors, handy and fast services with hospitality, and has the possible to support foreigners. There should really be health remedies services, e.g. Medical Check up Medical Remedies Dental Remedy Lasik Cosmetic Surgery / Plastic Surgery Physical Therapy Target foreigners like Leisure Tourists Medical tourists who intend to use medical care services, excluding wellness tourists who intend to use healthy services, e.g. spas, Thai massage and etc. Expatriates Has the possible to accommodate foreign tourists with supporting facilities and personnel, such as Getting personnel to take care of foreigners, e.g. interpreters and the foreign client care staff, etc. Getting facilities for foreigners, e.g., rooms, international foods, cable Tv, magazines, and etc.
Private hospitals can be divided into three sizes as follows
A tiny sized hospital refers to the hospital with 31-50 beds. A medium sized hospital refers to the hospital with 51-150 beds. A significant sized hospital refers to the hospital with way more than 150 beds.
High Potential Tourism Provinces refers to a significant tourism destination with the high possible to supply tourism and medical care services, like the following provinces.
Bangkok Metropolitan Area and its vicinity Central Region Hua Hin - Cha-am Districts (Prachuapkhirikhan and Phetchaburi) South Region Phuket and Koh Samui (Suratthani) North East Region Udonthani North Region Chiang Mai East Region Pattaya (Chonburi)
Medium Potential Tourism Provinces refers to a minor tourism destination with the moderate possible to supply tourism and medical care services, like the following provinces.
Central Region Ayutthaya, Kanchanaburi, Lopburi, and Ratchaburi South Region Songkhla (Hatyai), Trang, Krabi, Nakhonsithammarat,Ranong and Chumphon North East Region Nakhonratchasima, Khon Kaen and Loei North Region Nakhonsawan, Phitsanulok, Maehongson and Sukhothai East Region Rayong and Chanthaburi
Border Tourism Provinces refers to a tourism destination or area connected to the neighboring countries which has the moderate possible to supply tourism and medical care services, like the following provinces.
Chiang Rai Tak Mukdahan Nong Khai Ubonratchathani Nakhonpanom Sakaeo Trat Yala (Betong)
Low cost cost (not high priced) means having lower medical costs with the exact same medical service offered by other countries.Worth money means the satisfaction obtained after making use of services. Despite the fact that the expense is greater, the consumer is prepared to pay and feel worth money with reasonable cost.Organization partner refers to an organization or a organization which has some degree of involvement with one particular another, for example, being suppliers, customers, and distributors, etc. This includes the organizations linkage to raw supplies, intermediate goods, final goods, and services. The company which can share their customers with each other is also included. Normally, company partners ordinarily support each others company operation.Distributor refers to a general person, a legal person, or an organization which is officially assigned as a item and/or service distributor of a certain organization or organization.1.) Situation of Global Medic al TourismMedical tourism gains high reputation from tourists around the globe. Relating to the data offered by Bworldonline and ITRI Industrial Economics & Expertise Center, IEK, it is stated that in 2005 there had been 19 million medical tourists worldwide, creating income of up to 20,000 million US dollars in total. It is also projected that this business would be bigger, double in size in reality, equivalent to 40 million medical tourists worldwide or income of 40,000 million US dollars in 2010.There are a few essential elements facilitating the growth of medical tourism business as followsFirst, most consumers of created countries, in particular the US, are not in the public health insurance method. Relating to the report of the US Census Bureau conducted in the course of 2007-2008, it is found that 86.7 million Americans or 29% of all do not have any health insurance.Second, the US health service costs tend to continuously rise, resulting in an improve in medical costs . Presently, the US has the worlds highest medical costs.Third, the medical care services in created countries, e.g. the US, Canada, England, Sweden, Italy, etc. ordinarily have a lengthy waiting list, so it takes particularly lengthy time to access the services in those countries.Fourth, the medical costs in developing countries and Asian countries are substantially more affordable than the costs in the US and the European countries.Fifth, presently, the high quality of medical care services in developing countries and Asian countries is equivalent or even greater than the one particular of created countries.Sixth, due to the cut off the rising medical costs of some significant sized organizations in the US, they tend to favor medical outsourcing by letting their staff get medical remedies abroad with lower medical costs.Important Market Leading CountriesCurrently, Asia is thought to be as the worlds highest possible medical tourism continent and generates income of up to t hree.four billion US dollars from foreigners expenditures, or equivalent to 12.7% of the global marketplace, which is estimated to be 26.77 billion US dollars in total. In reality, the growth of medical tourism in Asia is projected to develop at a CAGR of 17.6% in the course of 2007-2012.
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