Medical tourism in Thailand

Abstract
Thailand Tourist hospitals mainly offer cheap but quality treatment for all human health problems. Improvised tourist sites and high-tech medical facilities make it a wonderful choice for the health tourists.

Keywords
Spas
Silom dental clinic Bangkok
Cardiac treatment in Thailand
Orthopaedic treatment in Thailand
Cosmetic surgery.
Face-lifts and tummy tucks
Doctor Sommai's breast treatment
Breast augmentation surgery
Thai climate.
Thailand has established its well-known health tourism industry around the most fascinatingnatural landscapes. Spas and sandy beaches provide post treatment facilities with a lot of funand entertainment. Know Thailand offers treatment for almost all the disease of both thegenders. That is why number of people as their health care destination chooses Thailand. Moderate Thai climate enhances the beauty of tourist resorts and provides ideal pre and post treatment environment. (Berger, 2007)

Spas are the main post treatment care places in the Thailand. Body massage and message of any body organ relieves the patients from different worries. Traditional massage, massage for beauty and massage for health are the main categories of massages in spas. Day's spas help business people to lessen the stress during pause in the business activities.
Thailand tourist hospitals are the solution providers of all dental issues like teeth bleaching, dental bridges, dental implants and dental surgery.
Thailand also provides treatment for cardiac problems in its tourist hospitals. Bumrungrad hospital Bangkok, Bangkok hospital Pattaya, Chaophya hospital and Chiangmai ram hospital are the important cardiac treatment hospitals available across the country. Over 1.2 million local and foreign patients are treated for bypass and heart transplantation.
Physician who has treated more than 200 knee patients with a good record are preferred over other doctors in the country.(Berger, 2007).
1.4 million Tourists for knee and hip treatment are expected to visit Thailand this year. This figure is higher than 1.2 million Orthopaedic treatments in 2010. Orthopaedic and other treatments are 20% cheaper than Singapore, India and UK. Cheap treatment encourages the patients to take along blood relatives for personal care as attendants. That is why 6 million US tourists visited Thailand in 2010.
Cosmetic surgery is free of insurance policy that helps visitors to explore Thailand in detail. Private hospitals located mainly in the capita Bangkok are leading in surgery with state of the art technology and highly qualified staff. Spas offer post surgery massage for better looks after the surgery. Cosmetic surgery in Thailand ranges from simple face-lifts and tummy tucks to breast growth and sex reassignment surgery. Breast augmentation in Thailand costs about 3000 US$ against 9000 US$ in US. Almost same cost differences exist for face-lifts and tummy tucks. It is the cheapest from Canada, Australia and Germany.
Doctor Sommai did a great research work on controlling the breast cancer in women by using Herbal products. Breast augmentation surgery is possible in just 3000 US$ which is cheapest than many other countries. Affordability and quality of breast augmentation surgery earns it the status of most popular cosmetic surgery in Thailand.
Thailand has ideal climate round the year. Islands and beaches attract tourists because of their serene beauty. Thai government provides excellent tourism facilities to people specially the neat and clean sandy beaches are hub of all entertainment. Government has established number of resorts to facilitate tourists in Thailand around the medical facilities.
Thai government is committed to lead Asia in health care facilities to further promote its tourism industry. Government is now trying to overcome the problem of conversation between the patient and staff in hospitals. Multi lingual staff is being trained in the country to address the language issue. Most of the hospitals have appointed multi lingual staff to facilitate the patients visiting Thailand from different regions of the world. Greater emphasis is being laid on UK, Japanese and Chinese language. Government has made concrete efforts to simply the procedures of insurance policy for the medical tourists.
There is big gap between local demand of medical services and availability of practitioners for them. Moreover, tourists are made to stay in five star hotels after getting the treatment for progressive recovery. The physicians throughout extend them medical advice during their recovery period. They are allowed to shop and visit tourist spots but coordination is the lacking area between hospitals and tourism industry. This sometimes causes problem for the medical tourists in identifying the places of their own interest. Thai tourism industry is busy in laying down procedures to enhance coordination among the departments.
Tourists face different legal issues when undergoing medical treatment in a foreign country. Insurance complications and law of the state can create trouble for a patient in a foreign country.
Transplantation of illegal organs purchased from different agents is sensitive issue in Thailand. Difference in treatment of high and low class people leads to inequalities.



Reference:
Berger, Arthur Asa. Thailand Tourism. New York: Routledge, 2007.
Cohen, Erik. Explorations in Thai tourism: Collected Case Studies. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing, 2008.
Woodman, Josef. Patients Beyond Borders Thailand Edition: Everybody's Guide to Affordable, World-Class Medical Tourism. USA: Patients Beyond Borders, 2009.