Samitivej to cut room rates

Hospital director Somsiri Sakolsatayadorn said yesterday that Samitivej had to prepare itself to cope with the tough conditions in 2009 as the global financial crisis had hit the economies of several countries.

"Samitivej next year will celebrate its 30th anniversary. So we decided to cut room prices by 30 per cent from the average room rate of Bt4,000," she said.

Samitivej has not seen a decline in the number of patients in the second half of this year despite the global recession. But that could be because most of the hospital's patients were expatriates and local people, unlike other hospitals, which aim to attract both expatriates and fly-in clients, she added.

Most of Samitivej's foreign patients are Japanese, American, English and French. Foreigners account for 38 per cent of total patients, increasing from 35 per cent last year.

"Although there are no signs of decline in patients this year, we have launched measures to cope with the situation next year. We foresee a decline in the number of patients, both foreigners and local people, mainly due to the economic slowdown," she said.

Somsiri said Samitivej this year announced for the first time that it would not increase its medical services fee because it wanted to send the message that it was not a hospital where common people could not come for medical services. The hospital's revenue in the first 11 months of this year grew 12.8 per cent from last year.

Somsiri expects total revenue to increase roughly 12 per cent.

Nalin Viboonchart