Through its medical hub policy, the Thai government will serve as a facilitator for private hospitals in helping them to improve their medical services to foreign visitors seeking health care in Thailand. Thus, the Thai government ensures that the medical hub policy would not affect the availability of affordable health care for Thai people. The policy involves mainly the operations of private hospitals while government hospitals still focus on medical services for Thai nationals so it should not adversely affect Thai patients and the government would not spend national funds on private hospitals.

The government had recently organized the first workshop for hospitals under the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Education to work together in an integrated manner so that they would optimize the use of existing resources. In the workshop, they discussed the road map to proceed with Thailand’s medical hub policy which also includes the creation of more qualified physicians. More workshops will be held for further discussions on the issue.

Apart from serving as the facilitator, the public sector would help boost the image of the country in terms of medical advances. The medical hub policy would encourage health establishments in Thailand to improve their health services to higher standards. This will enhance the competitiveness of Thailand as a country as well.

In developing Thailand into a regional medical hub, the Thai government will emphasize four areas. In the first area, Thailand will be promoted as a wellness hub with full cycle services. The second area is that the medical service hub will link with spa services and health tourism. The third area aims to turn Thailand into an academic hub for health care. The fourth area aims to develop Thailand into a pharmaceutical and health products center.

Since 2012, the number of medical tourists visiting Thailand is continuously rising. In facilitating their trips to Thailand, the Government has granted visa extension from 30 days to 90 days for nationals of six countries in the Middle East in the initial stage so that they can stay in Thailand for a longer period for medical services. Visa extensions will later be granted to medical tourists from other countries.

More updates on this medical hub policy will be announced later. Visiting Thailand? Obtain a proper type of Thai visa before leaving your country. Contact ThaiLawyers for Thai visa application assistance.