Focus of the week: Medical Tourism in Thailand

This week, the Novasans blog will focus on one of the leading medical and wellness travel destinations in the world – Thailand. We will try to explain why Thailand has succeeded as such a popular place for international patients, and the country’s future as a medical tourism destination. Feel free to comment below or on our Facebook page!

Thailand is the largest of all medical tourist destinations, and has the highest total volume of both high-end and low-end procedures. With a long history of tourism, Thailand has in recent years translated that along with high technology medical centres into a convenient package for tourists.

Being the capital, and the largest city in Thailand, Bangkok is of course the country’s hub for medical tourism. Boosting with a large international hospital, and an immensely popular tourism region; the southern town Phuket comes in on a definite second place. Other places with a high concentration of foreign tourists are now rising as options, such as Pattaya, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, and the island Koh Samui.

Thai prices and services

In comparison to India, the prices are about 20% higher in Thailand. But many international patients still choose the latter due to the fact that Thailand is considered to be a better tourist experience overall. While India has more specialized medical centres, Thailand offers mega-centres (such as Bumrungrad Hospital or Bangkok Hospital) with full in-house service. Many medical tourists have found this to be an advantage, and fly in to Thailand regularly for dental work, comprehensive physical exams along with minor healthcare procedures.

Popular treatments range from organ transplants, orthopaedic treatments, cardiac surgeries, to cosmetic surgeries and dental treatments. For medical tourists, Thai hospitals are very customer friendly. Many Thai physicians hold UK or US professional certification, and the hospitals offer interpreters in many of the most common languages spoken by their patients.

Thailand also offers a wide range of accommodation in all service levels, pristine beaches and plentiful good and affordable restaurants. For medical tourists searching for a number of smaller procedures, Thailand is a safe alternative. However, those who are searching for specific major surgeries should carefully weigh the benefits between Thailand and India.

The Importance of Accreditations

When crossing borders to obtain healthcare many patients are enticed by the cheaper price and the higher personal comfort that many healthcare facilities can offer. However, to find information about patient safety regulations and quality of the provider, consumers are compelled to do their own research.

As a help, there are several healthcare organizations that guide, inspect and educate healthcare providers to obtain and maintain the high standards of patient care and safety. One of the best symbols for this is International Accreditation.

Accreditation is a process of both internal and external evaluation used by healthcare organizations to accurately assess their level of performance in relation to established standards. It is important to remember that medical standards vary around the world, and the practice of international accreditation is fairly new.

To look for the provider’s international accreditation should be an important factor in the patient’s decision making. To make things more complicated for the patient there is not one single organization responsible for accrediting the providers and ensuring that their operating standards are wholly safe and ethical. However, with this in mind, there are several organizations that perform international accreditation.

Below is a list of the most common global accreditation organizations:

Joint Commission International (JCI), based in the U.S.

Australian Council for Healthcare Standards International (ACHSI), based in Australia

HealtCare Tourism International (HTC), based in the U.S.

The United Kingdom Accreditation Forum, based in the U.K.

The International Medical Travel Association, based in Singapore

Accreditation Canada, based in Canada

Several medical facilities also hold an ISO certification (International Organization for Standardization). However, ISO is not considered to be an international healtcare accreditation scheme.

10 spa trends in 2010

Did you know that there are more spas in the U.S. than there are Starbucks?

According to Susie Ellis, founder of SpaFinder, these are the top 10 spa trends in 2010.

1. The New “P” Word – while pampering for a long time was the main reason for people to visit spas, prevention is now growing much more important among the spa visitors.
2. The Year of the Hamam – ancient Middle East and Turkish baths are becoming more and more popular.
3. Not ‘Going to’ but ‘Belonging to’ a Spa – the social attractions with visiting spas are growing, membership spas are getting more common.
4. The Online Spa – booking treatments online and online news and offers are common cases at most spas today.
5. Spa-Hybrids – today we often see a combination of two or several treatment areas in one spa (such as spa-casino, spa-gym, spa-medical centres).
6. The Price is (Still) Right – the global price options within medical care and healthcare are now moving into the spa world. People want to find good value for money. For the forseeable future we will se soft pricing within the spa industry due to the ongoing recession.
7. Wellness Tourism – to come away from the exclusivity of the word spa, the term wellness is getting more used, and many spas are seen as center for all well being and not just pampering.
8. Scary & Silly Spa Stories – several incidents taken place within spas noticed in the media have raised the need for transparency and credibility in the industry. Evidence-Based Medicine is highly talked about in the industry.
9. Diversity at the Tipping Point – a new kind of visitors are seen at spas; such as men, older people and couples. The price span on spa treatments is growing.
10. Stillness – this trend is a reaction to the busyness seen everywhere around us. Offering “the channel of white noise” is a growing trend.
11. An Extra Bonus Trend – Celebrate Celebration – people are increasingly going to spas to celebrate reunions, birthdays, anniversaries etc.

What do you see as the most interesting changes in the spa world today? Please feel free to comment!