|
By Elizabeth Gibson, Agence France-Presse
BANGKOK: The conversation buzzing over Fatima
Rashid Al-Hemaidi sounds like a meeting of ambassadors—her
daughter speaking Arabic, the doctor Thai and English, and the
translator a mix of all three.
Beneath it all, Al-Hemaidi is smiling patiently
from a nest of blankets in a blue hospital gown and black headscarf.
“OK, mama,” the doctor says to her in
English as she pulls away the stethoscope.
On her third trip from Qatar to Bangkok’s
Bumrungrad Hospital Al-Hemaidi is familiar with the routine, just as
hospitals here are becoming more familiar with clients who, like
her, come from the Middle East for medical treatment.
The number of Middle Eastern visitors to
Thailand has been rising steadily in recent years, especially since
the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US when Arab tourists found
the West less than welcoming.
453,000 visitors in 2007
Last year Thailand received 453,000 visitors
from the Middle East, up nearly 12 percent from 2006, with a
significant number coming not for beach holidays but for the
hospitals.
Bumrungrad alone treated 90,000 patients from
the Middle East, up nine-fold compared to the year 2000, making them
a fast-growing segment in the hospital’s lucrative international
practice.
“This is a win-win situation,” said Tares
Krassanairawiwong, an official from the Thai Ministry of Public
Health. “People [from the Middle East] can have good quality care
and we can gain more revenue.”
Thailand markets its hospitals as offering lower
prices for their services than in the US, but of a higher quality
than countries such as India.
A hip replacement operation, for example, would
cost about $35,000 in the United States and $6,500 in India,
according to the health ministry here, which says the same procedure
costs $12,000 in Thailand.
The Thai government has trained 50 of its
hospitals to deal with Middle Eastern insurance policies and
cultural demands, said Tares.
Bumrungrad stands at the forefront of
Thailand’s international medical services, setting an example for
others to emulate.
Serving halal food, Arab coffee
Borihan Suwandee, a Thai Muslim who attended
medical school in Egypt, oversees everything in the hospital that
caters specifically for Arab patients—halal meals, Arab coffee, 40
Arabic translators, a resident imam prayer leader, and a large
prayer room built last year.
“We have to look after them medically and
socially,” Borihan said of the Arab patients.
Al-Hemaidi, who has 10 children and dozens of
grandchildren and great-grandchildren, broke her back in a fall in
September.
“She went to the private hospital from doctor
to doctor until she could not move at all,” her daughter Lolwa
said.
“They said she was an old woman so it wasn’t
worth the operation. When we came here the doctors told us something
very different. It was her last hope.”
Al-Hemaidi arrived in Bangkok on a stretcher and
checked into a hospital suite paid for by Qatar’s universal health
care.
It was the first time she had left her country.
Her operation took four hours and doctors said
there was a 70 percent chance of success. Now she can move on her
own and even walk short distances.
Next, a home in Bangkok
Al-Hemaidi has made two follow-up trips and this
time decided to have an operation to reduce pressure in her abdomen
and says she is also considering knee surgery.
After three visits, the only Bangkok sites she
has seen are hospital wards and the lobby cafe but says she’d like
to buy a holiday home in Thailand.
“Now if anyone feels pain,” her daughter
said, “my mum always says you have to go to Bangkok.”
|
