Private Hospitals, 2007: Enhancing Potential, Preparing for Competition(Business Brief No.1902)

Private hospital business in 2007 is expected to exhibit higher growth in revenues and the number of domestic patients. This is being helped by the increasing purchasing power of the populace along with the firmer economy and depreciating oil prices. Meanwhile, private hospitals participating in the Health Security Project with the government sector will benefit from higher lump sum payments per head from the health welfare system of Thailand during fiscal year 2007.

Meanwhile, Thailand is a destination for foreign patients coming to receive care and treatment. Supporting factors in thriftier service costs with good quality are comparable to key competitors such as Singapore, and it is expected that foreign patients in 2007 will be around 1.54 million persons, earning a handsome income of around THB41.0 billion. The revenue and number of patients next year will be higher than in 2006, in which there were 1.4 million patients coming to get treatment in Thailand with a value of around THB36.4 billion. However, private hospitals will be faced with important risks needing caution, especially the tougher competition among Thai private hospitals and competition from key competitors such as Singapore, Malaysia and India, because they are developing their potential to gain in their market share for foreign patients over Thailand.