Sayan, a Thai Moslem from the southern province of Songkhla, spent five years studying Arabic in Saudi Arabia. Now he's working as an interpreter, bridging the communication gaps between hundreds of Arab-speaking patients and their Thai doctors at Bangkok's Bumrungrad Hospital.
"I studied Arabic to help me read the Koran," said Sayan, 31. "I never thought I'd be using it to make a living."
PHOTO: EPA
Sayan was recruited by Bumrungrad Hospital in 2002, along with 14 other Arabic interpreters, as part of the hospital's aggressive marketing strategy to attract clients from the oil-rich Gulf States -- United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Kuwait and Qatar.
Bumrungrad, ranked as one of Thailand's top hospitals, started to draw clients from the Gulf States in 2000, especially in the summer months mid-May to mid-September, when many Arabs like to travel with their families abroad. Thailand has always been a favored destination, attracting more than 200,000 tourists from the Middle East annually.
"The 9/11 incident cemented the trend. Arabs can no longer freely travel to the US with all the visa restrictions, and Europe is also very expensive now because of the euro," said Ruben Toral, international marketing director of Bumrungrad.
This year, Arab patients are second only to Bangladeshis among international visitors who showed up for treatment at Bumrungrad and its closest competitor for the foreign market, Bangkok Hospital.
American-managed Bumrungrad claims that international patients are attracted to the hospital for three main reasons -- competitive prices, international standard doctors, good facilities and short waiting lines for treatment.
Thailand's medical care is five times cheaper than similar care in the US and Germany, and three times cheaper than its regional rival Singapore.
The trend has been gradual, but foreigners are slowing catching on, mostly by word of mouth, that Bangkok is a good deal not only for health-threatening pastimes such as bar hopping and philandering, but also a good place to heal up.
Five years ago, international patients accounted for less than 15 percent of Bumrungrad's clientele. This year the percentage is 36 percent, or more than 300,000 foreign patients, of whom some 35,000 are expected to come from the Gulf States.
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