Bangkok's private hospitals are moving to maximize their presence at the new airport and to bring in new business.
Bumrungrad International last week opened a new airport service centre at Suvarnabhumi, while Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital is scheduled to open the first medical center to be run by a private hospital at the airport next week.
Centrally located in section C of the arrival hall and next to the Tourism Authority of Thailand counter, the Bumrungrad Airport Service Center provides mainly information and ground support services for its inbound patients in a stylish, business-class lounge setting. The center complements a long list of services the hospital currently offers international patients, which include on-site serviced apartments, visa extensions and interpreters.
Bumrungrad is one of a handful of local hospitals that rely heavily on patients from abroad. It treated an estimated 450,000 foreign patients in 2006, a rise from 400,000 a year earlier. If domestic patients are included, the hospital treated more than one million patients in 2006.
Increasingly, people from the United States, Europe and the Middle East are choosing to travel to Bumrungrad for health care, because of its reputation for world-class medical services and affordable costs.
Mack Banner, Bumrungrad's CEO, said the hospital's aim was to provide inbound medical tourists with a complete door-to-door service.
"Bumrungrad is recognized as a service leader, and this is just another way we make our patients feel special," he said.
Medical tourism has been a boon to Thailand in recent years, attracting high-value tourists who tend to stay longer and spend more than the average leisure tourist.
Bumrungrad alone expects the number of its foreign patients to increase by 18-20% this year, with plans to invest about three billion baht over the next three years in the new 23-storey building to increase its bed capacity to 650 from 500 now, and install new medical equipment and other facilities.
Under a plan to expand its foreign patient base, Bumrungrad plans to set up about four representative offices in foreign countries this year, three due to be established by the first quarter of this year in the Republic of Seychelles, Mongolia, and Ethiopia.
The company currently operates 14 overseas offices.
Meanwhile, Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital is set to open its clinic on the third floor of the passenger terminal complex. It will mainly provide primary medical treatment, not only to foreign tourists but also staff of Airports of Thailand, and people working in and around the airport.
According to a source, an ambulance service was also on 24-hour standby to transport critical patients to the hospital. Samitivej Srinakarin is part of the Bangkok Dusit Medical Services group.
Source : Bangkok Airport Guide
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