Dr. Alongkorn Chutinan, the brain surgeon in charge of treating the Danish patient Jan Johansen in Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, suggests that a Medical Insurance should be a precondition for tourists to enter Thailand.
“When a Thai tourist applies for visa to Denmark, they have to show a Medical Insurance to get the visa,” he argues.
“I support the current flexible system, whereby a Danish tourist arriving Thailand can get a “visa on arrival” in the passport control in the airport. But I suggest that in case the tourist doesn’t have a valid medical insurance, the immigration should ask the person to go to another counter and buy one there and not allow them to enter the country before they have done so.”
Bangkok Pattaya Hospital like all other international hospitals in Thailand, spent a lot of time every year sorting out the mess when a patient doesn’t have any insurance. It also costs a lot when the consular department at the embassies has to spend lots of hours collecting and transferring the money from the parents to the hospital.
