Hightech care for those who can afford it.

The gap between wellcapitalised private hospitals and financially strapped state institutions is widening as private hospitals expand services to attract wealthy domestic patients and medical tourists.

For instance, Bumrungrad Hospital and Bangkok Hospital, the two largest private institutions, plan this year to invest hundreds of million baht in expanding specialist centres.

Bumrungrad plans to invest about 1.6 billion baht in hospital expansion over the next three to five years, with 1.2 billion baht going into a new 22storey outpatient centre in Bangkok.

Bangkok Hospital plans to spend 800 million baht this year on top of the one billion baht it spent baht last year on a cancer centre, the Bangkok Heart Hospital and international services.

The two cashrich hospitals have a clear strategy capture the middle to highend domestic patients and medical tourists who seek medical treatments which are cheaper in Thailand than in their home countries.

Thailand's healthcare services are about half the cost of similar services in Singapore, onethird the cost of Hong Kong and onetenth the cost in the United States.

Thailand's medical services landscape, particularly in the private sector, has gone through many changes in recent years, spurred partly by the government's 30baht healthcare scheme.

The 30baht scheme has prompted the healthcare industry to run a dualtrack system _ one depending on government subsidies and another funded by feebased services.
Pongsak Viddayakorn, president of Bangkok Dusit Medical Services Plc which operates Bangkok Hospital, said the 30baht scheme and the need for effective cost management could shrink the existing 350 hospital groups in Thailand to about 10 over the next decade.

"The year 2005 will be a turning point for the industry and a number of joint ventures with foreign investors will likely be formed during the year," he said.

Not only joint ventures with foreign partners are anticipated. Bumrungrad has been building up its international presence, name recognition and reputation with foreign patients. Last year it acquired a 40% stake in Manilabased Asian Hospital for $9.2 million and took over management of the twoyearold, 258bed hospital. In April, Bumrungrad followed up with an agreement to build a 125room hospital in Dubai. The facility is due to open in 2007.

In earlier deals, Bumrungrad was awarded contracts to run two other international institutions due to open this year, Pun Hliang International Hospital in Rangoon and Square International Hospital in Dhaka.

"We are examining more investment opportunities in Southeast Asia, mainly in Malaysia and Vietnam, China and the Middle East," said Curtis Schroeder, chief executive of Bumrungrad Group.