HELP! Survey on Water Drinking

Absurbity

Now I'm masking my face. It is a light brown mud which solidify when I paste on my face. So now I look like a ceramic doll, and my face is made from clay.

The enlighten quote from IT for communication class

"After working on IT for business for 10-15 years, I believe that using IT, company has no need to fire the workers. We can use the service minds and transformation to increase the potential of customer service of the company."

The most enlighten quote (and only one I heeard during two months of class) from Dr.Mario Gadet, IT for communication

Medical Tourism : Future high-tech business in Thailand

While patients in US might spend $100,000US for liver transplant in California, he or she could spend only $20,000US for that operation in Thailand, plus desirable traveling and vacation in one of the top 10 most beautiful countries in the world. “Medical Tourism” comes up with this idea since 2004. It is first stated in the government’s national policy “Center of Excellent Health of Asia”. These business seems to increase exponentially in their market margin along with the increasing in total expenditure of health care per capita and sky-rocking cost of medical care in developed countries like the United States and United Kingdom (as shown in Figure1). Worldwide gross medical tourism revenue is forecasted to grow from $56Billion in 2009 to $100Billion in 2012^[1].

Medical Tourists: Who Are They?

One of the two biggest hospitals for medical tourism in Thailand, Bangkok Hospital, claims that 40% of its patients now are international, and a great proportion of foreign patients are from Middle East, Asia, and Asia Pacific respectively ^[3]. However, there have plenty of room at another parts of the world. Considering the US and Europe patients who are suffered from the expensive cost of health care in their home countries. Research from McKinsey & Co. analysts that most of the patients have no royalty to cheap medical care, while another prefers to have treatment at their home medical system^[4]. However, considering portion of the patients who avoid waiting time in home hospital and looking for cheaper price in medically-necessary procedure, total four percent share is considerable as huge business value.

Why Thailand? : Watching another medical destination

The medical tourism phenomenon in Thailand starts during 9/11 attack in 2001, when Middle East patients found the trouble to travel to the States or European countries for medical care. Therefore, they changed their destination to Asia; Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong are their first consideration.

Comparing Thailand with neighboring country, Singapore; both countries located in the geographic area where the transportation from around the world is easy. Singapore takes advantage for having “relatively affordable health care service in a clean cosmopolitan city”^[5]. On the contrast, Thailand has at least two hospitals which are already advanced themselves to a quaternary medical care unit. Our specialists received training from abroad including the States, UK and many hold American or Royal College certification. Moreover, Thailand gains eminence for the premiere-class nursing care by combining hospitality and elaborate service system; pick up the patients since the airport, take care of all documentation including Visa, traveling plan, and rebook the airline tickets for both patient and accompanying people. Thailand also gains advantages for the abundant tourism attractive places such as Pattaya, Chieng Mai, or Puket. Combining relatively low cost of medical treatment and living expense (around 50% of Singapore's, 33% of Germany's, and 20% of the States), Thailand is one of the top medical destination in the world.

Elderly people can choose to have medical treatment in attractive and relax environment 
such as on the beach. 

(photo from http://www.medical-tourism.eu)

Future Direction: How long does it last and how to sustain longer.

Differ from the Latin-America countries whose major medical tourists come from the States and seek for affordable price, Thailand has major medical tourists from the Middle East countries because the specialists in their home country are shortage but the budget is plenty. This is the warning sign for long-term medical tourism business in Thailand; the Middle East countries would be able to product their own specialists within this ten years or use the technology transfer into their countries to reduce the oversea medical services (recently the UAE invited the healthcare providers including Bumrungrad, Bangkok Hospital, Johns Hopkins and Cleveland Clinic to invest the hospitals in al-Mafraq^[6]). By this current situation, which we mostly rely on price differentiation, surely this business in Thailand would terminate soon.

We need to strengthen our potential to compete in this business area. Trying to achieve the target customers from another parts of the world like the States or European countries meet the huge barrier based on the technology level in Thailand. The budget to support the cutting-edge technology in medical field is as high as federal budget. Joint-venture with other countries who own advance technology might be the last spring-board after this business slows down in coming years.

Another way to possess medical technology is development the scientific research in our country, which would likely to happen. Thailand has the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and four National Research Centers in Biotechnology, Materials, Electronics and Nanotechnology, but without unite direction of research development. It might be impossible to develop high technology devices such as MRI or CT-Scan by ourselves but for support technology, for example, biomedical devices in daily life like blood-sugar sensor, or synthetic organ grafts such as artificial knee-joint, Thailand has adequate potential to precede it.  

Advertising is also a razor-sharp strategy for this business. Medical care is the business which strongly based on royalty of the patients and this is also a considerable factor for the lifetime of this business. Mouth-to-mouth recommendation from patient-to-patient, doctor-to-patient and doctor-to-doctor are required to increase the market share in this area. Setting up the medical care agency is successively done, for example, the US’s Medical Tourism Association (MTA) facilitate the medical tourists to pursue health care overseas and Thailand For Healthcare (T4H) facilitate the inbound medical tourists^[7].

Conclusion: Dream business for the future of Thailand?

As long as people get sick, medical care is essential. Medical tourism is an alternative way to have health treatment together with relaxation via traveling. Thailand has many assets over competitors in medical tourism as quote from the Dr.Peter Jager, Country Head and Head Pharma Division, Novartis (Thailand); “There’s a lot of institutions already available here and there’s a lot of know-how and expertise, a lot of talented people and of course a lot of biodiversity and natural resources that can be used effectively in Thailand.  So altogether it is a pretty good package and pretty attractive for many companies to come in and do attractive work.” 

References:

^[1] http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/global-medical-tourism-revenue-hit-100b-2012

^[2] Health: Key tables from OECD - ISSN 2075-8480 - © OECD 2010

^[3] http://www.bangkokhospital.com/index.php?p=newsDetail&NewsID=389

^[4] http://www.imtjonline.com/articles/2008/mckinsey-co-conduct-research-into-medical-travel/

^[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism

^[6] http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/09/22/business/business_30084054.php

^[7]http://medicaltourismtothailand.com/

^[8] http://www.boi.go.th/english/why/Medical_Hub_2009.pdf

http://www.boi.go.th/english/why/Medical.pdf

http://www.biotechthailand.com/IndProf/TH-BIO/2008/TH-BIO_0809_IP08.pdf

http://www.business-in-asia.com/medical_tour/thailand_medical_hub.html

http://www.business-in-asia.com/medical_tour/medical_overseas.html

http://www.business-in-asia.com/asia/thailand_medical_tour.html

http://seekingalpha.com/article/137555-expect-growth-in-healthcare-sector

My private year plan (at the age of 22)

Seeing China's Technology year plan which is recently announced is the inspiration for me to create my own life plan. I try my best to forecast what might be happened during my life in next half a century from now on based on what I have now.

By the age of:
22: two papers/conference per year (at least one)
22: graduate bachelor degree
23: Europe with HKUST Student Exchange Group
24: graduate master degree, by this age I would have 6 papers to list in my resume
27: some small some small businesses regarding science and technology
29: graduate Ph.D (now I might need to consider not only the quantity of my paper, but also the quality)
30: marry (hopefully) : I intend not to marry during studying time, I don't want to carry my baby to hazardous place like lab, and wish to spend full intention to my family. 
30: post graduate
35: Nature/Science
36: Asst Professor
.
.
.
.

There is fews list of thing that I want to do

I have not much idea about the life after this. I know this is hard road, but I already decide to walk in this way. Cheer!