If there ever was a feel-good story about surgery in Thailand, this is the one. What makes this one even better is that it’s printed in the Washington Post - which makes it (a little) more trustworthy. So, without much ado… here is the link to a story about heart surgery at the Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok.

This year marks the third time Messe Dusseldorf Asia organizes the HospiMedica Thailand. The three day event started yesterday at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center and will end tomorrow.

Organizers were initially somewhat skeptical due to the recent political stability issues Thailand is facing, but so far the organizers report unexpectedly strong support from more than 200 exhibiting companies from all parts of the world.

HospiMedica Thailand 2007 gives participants and visitors a chance to update themselves on the latest developments in the health-care industry. Apart from that the event also provides a welcome opportunity for professionals in the health-care industry to network.

Thailand’s market for medical devices is expected to record healthy growth this year in keeping with the ever growing medical tourism.

According to the organizer, the medical equipment and supplies market in the Asia-Pacific region is forecast to grow by 30% to a value of approximately $43 billion by 2010.

Thailand’s market for medical devices was valued at around THB 500 Mio in 2006 and is expected to grow by 20% this year. If you think about it, it’s a tiny amount still, for the world leader in medical tourism. I expect this growth to accelerate over time, but for now the rich hospitals here still pride themselves of importing most of their equipment, rather than using locally manufactured tools.

It’s a bit of a mixed bag. Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BNH, Samitivey Hospitals, Bangkok Hospitals, Ramkamhaeng Hospitals) reported a drop in profits. The Samitivej did better than the rest of the Group.

The Bumrungrad reported an 8.5% increase in profits and a 10.4% increase in sales. That’s less than expected - for both numbers. If medical tourism should continue to growe at 20 - 30% per year, the second half needs to be … exeptional to say the least. Also increasing profits at a lower rate than sales is not exactly good news. I will try to find the reasons later but it can only mean that either competition brought prices and margins down or, fixed costs were not all that fixed. Actually they must have been rising faster than sales. Could it be that an almost empty, brand new outpatient building hurts profit growth? Does the strong Baht bring in lower earnings from the overseas operations? Again, that’s all a very superficial speculation - I’ll have a look at their financial statements some other day.

Prasit Pattana Plc, which operates the Phyathai Hospitals, has done much bettere than previously and finally turned profitable.

Thailand is a bit more expensive than India for most medical procedures but it is cheaper than Singapore. With the strenghening Baht this gap is getting smaller though. Good news for Singapore.