Bangkok Dusit banks on strong Mid-east base

The group operates the Bangkok Hospital Group, Samitivej Hospital, the Bangkok Nursing Hospital and the Royal International Hospital.

President Wallop Adhikomprapa said yesterday that though global oil prices have fallen, patients from the Middle East - who benefited previously from high oil prices - could still afford medical services in Bangkok.

In addition, 90 per cent of the patients' medical expenses were covered by their governments.

The United Arab Emirates is the group's top source of patients, contributing 5 per cent of overall revenue. Meanwhile, revenue from patients from Oman, Qatar and Ethiopia posted excellent year-on-year growth of more than 80 per cent in the third quarter.

"Our revenue in the past three months still showed double-digit growth," he said.

Though the company remains optimistic about 2009, it has decided to wait and see how the global economic situation pans out before deciding whether to establish medical centres in the Middle East, as previously planned. Wallop said the company might revise its targeted 2009 revenue if the US government again changed its US$700-billion (Bt24.7 trillion) financial bail-out plan, which could affect the global economic outlook.

He said the group would seek new markets such as China and Indonesia, where wealthy patients prefer to obtain medical services overseas.