Recovery in local patient visits in sight for Thai hospitals

They experienced a drop in patient traffic after lockdown measures.

Thailand’s hospitals could see a gradual recovery in hospital visits by locals, as lockdown curbs over Q2 ease following an improvement in the country’s COVID-19 situation, according to a report from Nomura.

Also read: Reimbursement cuts to weigh on Thailand hospitals

Thai hospitals were noted to have been experiencing significant drops in local patient traffic since the latter half of March, due to intensifying lockdown measures and the public’s avoidance of hospital visits due to fears of infection. The situation is expected to start improving by late-Q2.

On the other hand, the return of fly-in patients could take longer than was previously expected, as stringent international travel restrictions are tipped to remain during the quarter and possibly into the latter half of the year.

Although some ease of travel restrictions is expected to come in late-Q3, downside risk still remains for the country’s medical tourist plays, which have 3-50% of their revenues coming from medical tourism.

However, the participation of some private hospitals in free COVID-19 testing for people under investigation (PUI) could help offset the decline in domestic patient volume in general, with hospitals able to reimburse $109.39 (THB3,540) per test for PUI from the government.

For non-PUIs, testing prices vary from $154.51 (THB5,000) to $309.02 (THB10,000) per test, depending on hospital tier. Mid-tier hospitals are more likely to benefit from this subsidy, as the testing fees are found to be higher than the average.