Thai target

Visionaries who have wild dreams of making the Philippines a medical tourism destination have their work cut out for them, considering Bangkok’s decided advantage in this area.

Where to start?  Not even at the airport, as I recently found out.  Travelers can begin their medical safari right from their very homes.  Potential patients of the Bumrungrad Hospital can check out the hospital’s user friendly website, and request for an appointment with the particular specialist they have in mind.  After emailing a request, where the patient specifies the dates he thinks he’s going to be in town, the confirmation arrives a day after, together with very detailed instructions about where to show up and what to bring.

Efficient, right?  But the efficiency doesn’t end there.  As soon as one lands in the airport, there’s a counter where all of one’s needs are anticipated.  I made my way to the counter, and was immediately asked whether I needed a hotel, and if I needed transportation to my hotel.  Then, having satisfied I had all those details pretty much ironed out on my own, the friendly frontliners asked whether I had transportation going to the hospital the next day. Now, how’s that for a first impression?

The following day, when it was time for me to actually walk into the hospital, didn’t change my favorable impression.  When one steps out onto the curb, there’s a concierge service ready to attend to you and direct you.  Miles apart from any hospital in the Philippines, where you can wander around lost wondering where exactly it is you have to be while having to overcome the “fend for yourself” attitude emanating from the staff.

I had instructions to go to the Sky Lobby, where relaxed surroundings and a Starbucks cafe awaited.  There’s plenty of reception desks, and a friendly staff member prepared an ID after taking my photo while I sat in a comfortable chair - no need to go from section to department to uncomfortable waiting area to wherever other hell it is the bureaucratic idiots in most hospitals can think up of.   I scribble my waiver right there (noting that I have just agreed to the jurisdiction of courts of Thailand) and in no time flat, I am ready to proceed to my consultant’s clinic.

By the way, they really do think of everything.  The lounge even has a desk where visa extensions are arranged with Thai immigration.  So just in case the patient is in danger of overstaying, the hospital has the ability to make the red tape go away.

As I move up to another floor through their quiet (and real quick) elevators, I idly observe the different nationalities and ethnicities around me.  Middle eastern women in head to toe covering (I always forget what those things are called), Caucasians in flip flops, Hindi men in their turbans, are all present.  People are flying in all over the world for treatment here, and no wonder.

I settle down to wait, and look at a stack of fresh newspapers and magazines available to amuse me.  And hey, what’s that?  Free water and juice at a huge chiller.  What do they NOT think of in this place?

My doctor recommends some tests done.  Oh too bad, the hospital can’t accommodate me right now, this very minute.  But not to worry, there’s an offsite facility, and if I go take a cab now, they can squeeze me in: my appointment has been made for me while I chit chat with the doctor. I can only gape at the speed.

As soon as I get down to street level, I speak to the concierge and tell them my destination.  A cab is whistled up for me, and off I go.  I should no longer be surprised that I am expected at the test center, because the hospital has called.  In no time, my tests are done, my results are both in film and in a cd, and I am bundled back in a cab where my doctor (the same one) is waiting to look at the results.

The nurse takes the film and the cd, makes copies, and gives it back to me.  Given my experience in Philippine hospitals where if you need documents reproduced, you are charged for photocopying (and every little move you make and vial you take), I almost expect her to inform me there is a fee for reproducing test results from another hospital, but no such thing.  And I don’t have to go to another floor if I need to pay, the cashier is right there.

For someone like me, who is almost a veteran at Philippine hospitals, this experience was amazing.  We are light years away from this model of efficiency.  We will need to get our act together to be able to compete with the Thais, and I am willing to concede that Thailand has, for now, bested us in this dream  (And no, the good news I got from the Thai specialist has nothing to do with this gush of goodwill.)