Japanese Medical Services in Thailand

ensure that the Japanese patients, who have come here for treatment and those Japanese nationals working in Thailand, receive medical attention without any anxieties, particularly in regards to language issues and cultural gaps.

Thailand is a developing country, but in the late 1970's faced a serious medical crisis, which lead to a drastic devaluation of its medical services. At about the same time, the need for treating expatriates were increasing in this Asian country.

The Thai government requested help form Japan in terms of advice on Medical Health and Safety. The Japanese government, in response, conducted a survey on health management of more than 20,000 Japanese residents employed in Japanese companies established in Thailand.

From these studies and questionnaire surveys, it was concluded that even though health management and safety was reasonably good in the capital Bangkok, in other parts of the country they were sub-standard in comparison with Japan.

Medical services including health insurance were not complying with the required standards. Worker's chronic diseases and/or mental disorders were not taken seriously resulting in problems for either Japanese medical officers or medical officers pertaining to the circuit team. Surprisingly, they did not seek help from the Thai medical services. All these led to the establishment of the Japanese Medical Services in Thailand.

Japanese Medical Services (JMS) was first opened in 1977, addressing a demand for a service specialized for the Japanese expatriates. The idea behind the project was to deliver direct medical services to Japanese clients without the difficulty of using in-between translators, allowing patients and doctors to communicate directly in Japanese.

Several Thai doctors, who graduated from Japan universities, have since been part of the Japanese Medical Services in Thailand.

The Japanese Medical Services in Thailand was, in 1994, upgraded to status of a hospital clinic and the possibility of service was boosted in order to reflect this significant change. There are now a handsome number of full time and part time Thai doctors working at JMS Clinics across Thailand.

As most of the JMS doctors possess Japanese medical licenses and experience with working at hospitals in Japan, they can deliver not only medical treatment but also pinpoint care to Japanese patients as they can digest the requests from Japanese patients clearly. There are Japanese nurses for looking after the services for medical check up programs, such as handling out the check up results in Japanese - the Health Promotion Center gives access to Japanese expatriates the yearly medical check up everyday. Over 400 Japanese corporate companies with 4,800 expatriates have received the service of Japanese Medical Services in Thailand in 2006 alone.

Even though the medical staff at the Japanese Medical Services in Thailand can speak Japanese, the hospitals in Thailand has as well employed 16 Japanese interpreters who perform as coordinators among various other centers and clinics around the campus of hospitals in Thailand.

In addition, if their services are required, interpreters help the doctors and other employees of other hospitals. These interpreters also deliver the required help to doctors and nurses during in-patient stays.