Thailand has
about 50 hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission International. Arabian
Gulf nationals can stay in the country for medical treatment for 90 days
without a visa. Saeed Khan / AFP
Medical tourism to Thailand from the UAE is
expected to remain strong despite changes to health insurance policies in Abu
Dhabi, according to Thailand’s tourism agency.
In April, Health Authority Abu Dhabi cut
benefits for expats covered by insurer Daman, and Emiratis under its Thiqa
programme, to check medical expenses and encourage medical treatment in Abu
Dhabi. It is now more expensive for some patients to seek treatments abroad.
Emiratis who seek treatment abroad, including
in Thailand, are either self-paying or do so at the expense of the Ministry of
Health.
"[The changes in health policy] is a
concern, but only Abu Dhabi patients will be impacted by this," said Tanes
Petsuwan, the deputy governor for international markets at the Tourism
Authority of Thailand (Tat). "We have seen no impact yet of the changes in
health insurance policies in Abu Dhabi. We are still optimistic [about the
numbers from the UAE] as we capitalise on our prices, the range of treatments
available, and [short] waiting period."
He was speaking on the sidelines of the
International Medical Travel Exhibition and Conference in Dubai yesterday.
Last year, Thailand received 150,000 medical
tourists from the UAE, a 2.5 per cent increase over 2014.
"Thailand will remain a viable medical
tourism destination for the people from the UAE," Mr Petsuwan said.
Tat launched a medical tourism roadshow
yesterday in Dubai, where Thai officials and hospital executives met travel
agencies, local government officials and health authorities. They will also be
stopping over in Oman and Kuwait as part of a week-long roadshow.
Among the top medical treatments that
patients from the UAE seek in Thailand are orthopaedic surgeries, cardiac
procedures, general medical check-ups and eye surgeries, Mr Petsuwan said.
Thailand received 30 million tourists last
year, of which about 16 million, or 53 per cent, came for medical and wellness
treatments. Tourists who specifically sought medical treatments came in at
857,086, a 25 per cent increase over the previous year, and the rest – about 15
million – came for wellness tourism, a 38 per cent increase over 2014,
according to the latest data from Tat.
By the end of 2018 Thailand expects to
receive about 1 million medical tourists, up from the 928,734 expected this
year, and more than 25 million people for wellness tourism, up from 17 million
estimated this year, Tat said.
Al Meroz Hotel, Thailand’s first halal hotel,
which opened in November, is working with hospitals in Bangkok to offer special
packages for medical tourists from the UAE.
The country has about 53 JCI-accredited hospitals
in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai. The accreditation, given by the
Joint Commission International of the United States, is a standardisation
marker for healthcare service providers around the world.
"We want to appoint [a medical tourism facilitator]
in the UAE to increase the number of medical tourists from here," said
Norachan Na Ayutthaya, a spokeswoman for Phyathai 2 Hospital, a tertiary care
international hospital in Bangkok. "Most of the patients from the UAE at
our hospital are self-paying, so they are seeking another treatment destination
and are budgeting for this."
About 15 to 20 per cent of its patients are
international, with Oman one of the top four source markets along with
Cambodia, Myanmar and China.
At Pattaya’s Bangkok Hospital, about 55 per
cent of the patients are international.
"If patients believe in the health care
they seek, and can afford, they will travel for it," said Juthaporn
Huyakorn, the director of business development at the hospital, referring to
changes in Abu Dhabi’s health insurance policies.
Thailand generated 63.49 billion baht
(Dh6.68bn) from medical and wellness tourism last year, a 15 per cent increase
over 2014. The spending on medical tourism was about 19,864 baht per person per
trip last year compared with about 1,658 baht per person per trip in wellness
tourism.
Arabian Gulf nationals can stay in Thailand
for medical treatment for 90 days without a visa.
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