Top medical schools are planning to launch an international medical programme as well as a regional training centre to draw global recognition and enhance students' ability to compete in the international community.
Under the plan, he said about 30 to 40 foreign and local students would be enrolled every year. Currently, the faculty produces about 300 medical professionals per year.
Adisorn said that though most Thai medical students had the knowledge, they lacked the competency to operate in an international setting. This programme would improve students' English-language skills and help them learn how to interact with students from other countries, he said.
This scheme will also give Thailand an opportunity to help its neighbouring countries train and produce medical personnel. He said the purpose behind opening an international medical school was not just to make money, but also improve the capacity of professors.
Currently, about 2,800 medical students are enrolled across the nation every year. This should increase to 3,000 per year, which should be enough to cover both local and expatriate patients nationwide. However, foreign students would have to sign a contract declaring that they would not practice medicine in Thailand.
"Only Thai citizens can work as doctors in the Kingdom," he said.
Chulalongkorn is not the only university aiming to become a regional medical training centre, the Mahidol University's Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, is also considering to step in.
The Mahidol faculty's dean, Dr Thirawat Kullanan, said his department was planning to ask members of the staff what they thought about setting up an international programme.
"We are studying the trend," he said.
Personally, though, he said he believed that setting up international programmes would improve students' capacity in the global market because their skills in the English language would better help them exchange knowledge and ideas with foreign experts.
As for people worrying that medical students graduating from the international medical programme would prefer to work at private hospitals, he said it was the government's responsibility to distribute medical personnel appropriately across the country.
Initially, Srinakharinwirot University's Faculty of Medicine had asked the Medical Council's approval for setting up an international programme. However, this plan was opposed because several people believed that the international curriculum would only favour private hospitals. The faculty explained that it was just a regular curriculum taught in English.
Meanwhile, the Health System Research Institute's director Dr Pongpisut Jongudomsuk said he did not understand how international medical schools would produce enough students to support state hospitals.
"They also have to explain how medical students can improve their skills by studying in the English language," he said.
He added that all medical students could speak English because they had to study from English-language textbooks. "Even though we are not fluent in the language, it does not affect our profession," he said.
