Terminal illness: AoT's medical burden

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Terminal illness: AoT's medical burden

Published: 11/03/2011 at 09:56 AM
Newspaper section: Business

Suvarnabhumi airport's problems go beyond complaints about long immigration lines, dirty toilets and staff not smiling enough to include others of a more pressing financial nature.

Suvarnabhumi airport’s clinic is staffed by three doctors and nine nurses.

The airport is facing a rising number of foreign travellers who fall seriously ill on their journeys, and even a few who have chosen the passenger terminal to commit suicide.

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About the author

: Writer: Boonsong Kositchotethana; Position: Deputy Editor Business

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johninbkk
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Discussion 10 : 11/03/2011 at 10:26 AM10
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"as of 2010, a total of 59 foreign patients had not paid bills amounting to a combined 20 million baht."
For a sense of scale, in 2009 alone, 40.5 million passengers passed through Suvarnabhumi. Increase the airport fee by 25 satang per passenger, problem solved.
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debate101
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Discussion 9 : 11/03/2011 at 10:25 AM9
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Even after the 700 Baht departure tax paid by millions of travelers a year and what must be enormous leasing fees paid by hundreds of shop and restaurant owners, the airport doesn't have enough left in its budget to provide emergency medical care for a a few dozen guests in the Kingdom? That's unfortunate. Perhaps the airport should open its medical services to competition to maybe reduce the 380,000 Baht average bill these people ring up in what is supposed to be one of the cheapest places in the world to go to receive quality medical treatment. Then again, there's a lot of profit to be made off their misfortune and it's probably easier to just blame victims.
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dutchboy
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Discussion 8 : 11/03/2011 at 09:30 AM8
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What exactly would be the rational behind Foreign Countries paying the bill for their citizens that get ill in another country?

Their reply that it's a case between the individual and the hospital is absolutely correct.
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travis
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Discussion 7 : 11/03/2011 at 08:42 AM7
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Yes, the charges levied are far in excess of normal process. And that's OK. The excess can be used - and should have been used - to subsidize the non-payers. This is a normal practice in every country where there is an international airport. Look at the MILLIONS of Thais visiting and working in other countries who have no way to pay their bills.

Seems like other countries do not whine about lost opportunities to make money out of sick people.
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lingba
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Discussion 6 : 11/03/2011 at 08:04 AM6
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Whilst waiting at immigration or baggage reclaimation I have often considered suicide myself....
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rpt777
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Discussion 5 : 11/03/2011 at 07:31 AM5
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1) do Thai's traveling abroad have the same medical problems..? Do they pay their bills? Are the 20 million baht charges legitimate or are they gross over charges which is a typical Thai practice when dealing with Farangs...hand them a big bill and hope they pay it unquestioned...how about those who did pay their bill...were they charged the same rates as the locals? The Thai government selling health insurance?? sounds like something the Democrat party would find attractive....can you imagine how lucrative that would be for the health ministry....
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jinb
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Discussion 4 : 11/03/2011 at 07:30 AM4
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Barring a modification of the legendary Thai spirit of Humanitarianism - that is to say barring service at the outset to the indigent - I think the patients Govt's should foot the bill - and then stick collections on the individual.
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fundeena
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Discussion 3 : 11/03/2011 at 07:08 AM3
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Dr Sakchai wants broke backpackers, drug addicts, the jobless and those whose families will have nothing to do with them Bangladeshis and Russians to buy health and travel insurance before visiting Thailand. Good luck. Why not incorporate the clinic cost of deadbeats into the airport tax levied on all travellers coming through the airport?
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franklin
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Discussion 2 : 11/03/2011 at 06:53 AM2
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After all the rip-offs, set-ups and scams that the travelers have been subjected to and received no help from the airport police or AoT, I find it a little hard to care about AoT and their financial problems. The article states, “Hundreds of foreign passengers passing through the airport have fallen seriously ill or suffered accidents, requiring immediate medical attention”. What made them ill? What kind of accidents? Did the accident happen at Suwanabhumi? Negligence of AoT?
"We think it extremely unfair to make us shoulder this huge financial burden while the patients' countries simply ignore the problem," said Sakchai Arunrukthavon, the vice-president of AoT's Medical Department. Well, AoT get in line with the hundreds of dissatisfied travelers who have also found a multitude of unresolved and ongoing problems and “unfairness” at the airport.
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Renaissance
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Discussion 1 : 11/03/2011 at 06:53 AM1
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"Dr Sakchai suggests the Thai government require foreign visitors to Thailand buy health and travel insurance."

While I understand the problem, can you imagine the impact this would have on Arrival Immigration lines? Imagine the Immigration officials, who may not be able to read much English, trying to decipher health insurance policies in a wide variety of languages as the queues grow longer and longer and longer ....
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