Charlotte Fung Korff arrived in Bangkok this February together with her husband, Kim Korff, who holds a position as Supply Chain Manager with the East Asiatic Company. But she is not the ordinary accompanying Danish spouse.
The 28 years old Asian looking Charlotte was born and raised in Copenhagen; however, her parents are Hong Kong Chinese. Over the years she has been a frequent visitor to Thailand, and she loves Thai culture, the food, the people, and especially the climate. Along her way she has also been studying in Tokyo and Shanghai where she first experienced living in Asia and improved her language skills – she speaks Cantonese and Mandarin, Japanese, as well as English, Danish, – and now a little bit of Thai, too!
Before relocating, she worked as a research assistant at the Asia Research Center of the Copenhagen Business School, from which she also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Intercultural Management with an Asian perspective, and a Master’s Degree in International Marketing & Management.
Having settled in, Charlotte quickly started looking for a job which eventually led her to Angela Stafford, the Head of BNH Hospital’s International Center. Her assignments at the hospital’s International Center are diverse, ranging from acting as the Scandinavian interpreter and coordinator for Scandinavian patients during their visit to the hospital, to promoting the hospital to the Scandinavian community living and working in Thailand and arranging public relations’ events.
One recent happening the “Health Care” networking evening with the Thai-Danish Chamber of Commerce on November 20th, it was of course also Charlotte who introduced all the services the BNH has to offer. Before that she was part of the Banyan Tree Vertical Marathon, in which BNH provided the medical support for the participants. Currently, she is preparing for another upcoming sporting event in Bangkok.
Besides working with the BNH, Charlotte does committee work with the International Women’s Club. She enjoys setting up social activities for the members while experiencing the invigorating diversity of Bangkok’s international society.
Bangkok Nursing Home
In 1898, on February the 14th, a small group of expats established Bangkok Nursing Home. BNH Hospital, as it is today called, was opened by then British Ambassador to Siam, Mr. George Greville CMG, and was at the time one of the first private hospitals to operate in Thailand.
What was in those days a location somewhat on the outskirt of Bangkok has today become a very convenient location in the heart of Bangkok’s Central Business District. Here, BNH is today located on a 2-acre site near the Sathorn end of Soi Convent only a short walk from the Sala Daeng Skytrain stop.
Initially, the hospital aimed at serving only expatriates in Thailand, but after receiving a royal charter from King Rama VI in 1912, the hospital extended its services to care also for Thais. Even in those days, the BNH hospital was contrary to its name never really just a nursing home. It has always had an operating theater, delivered babies and functioned as a general practicing hospital.
In 1991, the BNH Medical Center was formed to establish a new international standard hospital to cope with the increasing demands from the domestic and international market for more private health care. The new directors decided to commission a new hospital and the new-look BNH was completed in 1996. However, the 1997 economic crisis hit hard and the hospital lost many prospective patients to its major competitors. But in 2001, the Bangkok General Hospital Group saw an opportunity to take over the management of the hospital and seized upon it.
Among the innovations brought in by the BGH was a computerized system called Medtrak, which makes the hospital more efficient as now all the medicine, cashier’s receipts and records are computerized. It also opened a new Heart Center headed by Dr. Suphachai Chaithiraphan and Dr. Nithi Mahanonda. This center provides state-of-the-art diagnosis including electrocardiograms (EKG), exercise stress tests, echocardiography, cardiac catherization and balloon angioplasty.
The new BNH also has a renowned plastic surgery center called the Preecha Aesthetic Institute, founded by Dr. Preecha Tiewtranon, which is one of the most respected in Asia. Dr. Preecha’s techniques have become the standard for international plastic surgery practices and his team of qualified plastic and cosmetic surgeons specialize in facial plastic surgery, mamoplasty, facial, head and body contouring.
BHN also has a Gastro-Intestinal (GI) Clinic headed by Dr Nusont Kladchareon and Dr Chalaikorn Chaowapattanakul, which has state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment and techniques including ultrasound, CT scans, GI Endoscopy and Radio-Intervention.
The hospital recently introduced Laser Smile in its Dental Center, which uses state-of-the-art TCIA (Target Chromophore In-phase Accelerated Activation) whitening technology which can make teeth whiter in just thirty minutes.
It also has laser skin treatment to get rid of wrinkles and skin defects, and it is the only hospital offering non-invasive vascular screening (AVI) to detect clogged arteries. BNH offers two or three-day baby packages with either caesarian or natural birth delivery. The hospital also has a very good psychiatrist and psychiatrist nurse. And the hospital pledges confidentiality for all its treatment.
And the development continues.
In February 2004, the hospital is set to open a new Women’s Health Center, which will include services like sub-fertility, menopause, endocrinology and female oncology. Being part of the Bangkok General Hospital Group, which includes Bangkok General, Samitivej, Bangkok Pattaya and Bangkok Phuket Hospitals, adds other benefits than investment power to purchase the latest medical equipment. For the patients it also means, that whatever BNH doesn’t offer one of its sister hospitals is sure to.
Asked to describe her hospital, Angela Stafford, head of the hospital’s International Center says:
“We provide individual treatment and care with first class service in a gentle and refined environment. The hospital is not overbearing and glitzy, it is more like a hospital that Europeans would recognise and be comfortable with. We offer a General Practitioner ‘Family Doctor’ service whereby every time a patient visits the hospital they can see the same doctor which results in the doctor knowing all about them and their family.”
“If a patients needs to see a specialist their GP can refer them, which many of our patients find reassuring,” Angela Stafford adds.
The International Center provides services in English, German, French, Japanese, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. Its responsibilities include contacting relatives, assisting with local and overseas insurance companies, organizing medical evacuations and providing moral support for foreign patients. Those international patients tend to come from the US, Australia, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Denmark.
Today, 105 years after its foundation, BNH hospital provides a modern day, state-of-the-art comprehensive medical service with highly qualified doctors and medical staff on-site on a 24-hour basis. It has the capacity to treat 800 outpatients each day and has private rooms for 225 inpatients. The latter can enjoy BNH’s 4th floor Roof Garden if they feel cooped up at all.
