Bangpakok Hospital Group, as good as it gets

The premise behind the hospitals in the Bangpakok Hospital Group is to create a warm and welcoming and luxurious atmosphere and to provide services round-the-clock that relax, entertain and offer patient support, all the while offering with the best medical care available. 

In addition to standard services (such as interpreters) for foreign patients, Bangpakok also provides activities outside the hospital. “Some of the patients have favourite hot spots, like shopping places, so we provide special transportation and a personal guide that takes care of the patients’ activity needs outside the hospital. This is very important because, oftentimes, we’re not just caring for one solo patient: frequently, the patient comes with their family,” explains Co-founder and Managing Director Dr Chareong Chandrakamol.

“Ours is a fully integrated system that expertly deals with medical tourism for the patient and the family. Dr Chareong Chandrakamol Managing Director of Bangpakok Hospital Group

Within Thailand, Bangpakok’s four hospitals (with another three under development) do little in the way of marketing or advertising, as “fundamentally, we are doctors and we are here to treat patients.” Instead, the group has been competitive thanks to two main factors: firstly, affordable pricing and secondly, the trust it has built up among the population.

“We are one of the few hospitals in the country that has a productivity centre. This is how we have implemented a lean management system… We control our own costs so we don’t have to pass that burden on to the patient,” says Dr Chandrakamol.

She adds: “Healthcare is a matter of trust: it’s not pricing alone. It’s a matter of how you take care of the community and where you have your outreach programmes. So, we create this trust in our own community and this is extended over to our international patients as well. When you have this trust, the pricing is already competitive. ”

Bangpakok Hospital's international availability is also further expanded by their global healthcare consultations facility, conducted directly online via email to patients around the world.

Trust has been built up over time and cemented by the group’s acts of charity. “Our logo is a heart, but it doesn’t only refer to heart surgery,” says Dr Chandra-kamol. “We donate a lot of surgeries: we recently donated 500 knee surgeries and 500 open-heart surgeries for free. We do free surgeries for small babies, as well.”

Staffed by medical professionals who have either trained or received post-graduate education abroad in some of the world’s leading universities and institutions, Bangpakok hospitals not only excel in all aspects of patient care, they also offer some of the most complex and advanced medical procedures, such as open heart surgery, premature baby care, orthopaedic treatment, plastic surgery and cancer treatment.

When asked about merging with another hospital or publicly listing the group on the stock exchange, Dr Chandra-kamol says that having to balance priorities between shareholders and society is not advantageous to the group. “The shareholders may be a stronger force and that’s just not a balance that will work for us.”

For additional information contact: ics@bpk.co.th