Media Reports

Medical Tourism in Thailand

Private health care in the west is notoriously expensive and many people look to Thailand to find cost-effective solutions to their medical problems...

‘Generation X’ are in charge and their legacy is a world where government ‘interference’ in free market and health care is at an all time low. Unable to depend on state health care systems many people in many parts of the world now have to resort to their private resources for the operations and medical treatments they need. Private health care in the west is notoriously expensive, for some, prohibitively so. Even commonplace medical areas like dentistry and orthodontics are extortionately priced, while surgery and major operations can completely drain personal finances. Given the costs, and the stakes, many people have looked beyond the shores of their native homelands to find cost-effective solutions. Many have found their solutions in Thailand spurring a trend in ‘medical tourism’ to the country.

But why Thailand? The Thai medical profession is probably one of the most advanced in the region. Successive governments have invested in ensuring the education and training Thai doctors receive is parallel to that offered elsewhere in the region. Many doctors undertake specialist training abroad, particularly the United States and Europe and are at least equally as well qualified as physicians in the west - often more so.

A qualified, experienced medical profession is though useless without proper facilities and equipment. Fortunately, Thailand’s hospitals and clinics are world class. Huge investments have been made in equipment and management standards are so high that hospitals achieve ISO 9001 accreditation. Many major hospitals belong to management groups that ensure the very highest standard of medical service is available through their branch hospitals at various locations around the country. All this expertise and proficiency means that Thailand’s hospitals are a secure option for those seeking medical treatment.

Thailand’s medical solutions do not though rest at major surgery or treatments. A variety of cosmetic surgery options are available, as is cosmetic dentistry (laser teeth whitening, etc.) and laser sight correction (LASIK, etc.). Thailand is also a very popular choice for people requiring sex reassignment surgery.

Source: Discovery Thailand.com (For more on this story click here) 

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Thailand News

UN Health Expert: Bird Flu Fight Must Be On Community Level

BANGKOK (AP)--The United Nations will help equip communities in Asia with knowledge about bird flu to combat a possible bird flu pandemic, a senior U.N. health official said Friday.

According to the WHO, the H5N1 virus has killed 151 people worldwide since ravaging poultry stocks across Asia starting in 2003. Indonesia accounts for more than a third of the human deaths. The virus has killed 55 people across Indonesia.

Source: Dow Jones Newswires (For more on this story click here)

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UK News

Patients set for bone cancer drug denial

the Daily Mail claims that it has seen leaked documents relating to the decision, which recommend that, although Velcade is more clinically effective than chemotherapy, it is not regarded as cost-effective.

Velcade is used to treat multiple abnormal plasma cells (myeloma) and is given to people who have already been treated with at least one other type of chemotherapy and who have had, or are unsuitable to have, a bone marrow transplant but whose myeloma have continued to develop.

Janice Wrigglesworth, 59, from Keighley in West Yorkshire, who has multiple myeloma in her bones and bone marrow, told the Daily Mail: 'It's absolute insanity that Velcade is available in Scotland but not England. Are they saying a Scottish life is worth more than an English life?

Source: M & C News (For more on this story click here)

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America News

The killer within

It gets little attention, but it is deadly nonetheless. Over 200,000 women will get breast cancer in America this year. Over 40,000 will die from it. In comparison, we lost over 50,000 men and women over the course of the war in Vietnam, and nearly 3,000 in Iraq.

A woman living in the U.S. today has a one-in-eight chance of developing breast cancer sometime in her life. For some, the cause is genetic. But obesity, alcohol consumption and lack of physical activity may all contribute.

Source: America Sunday Paper (For more on this story click here)

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