Hua Chiew Hospital in major transformation
HUA CHIEW Hospital in Bangkok has made a major transformation, including an upgrade of its medical infrastructure, aimed at moving from being a traditional hospital specialising in maternity to a general private hospital with advanced medical treatments.
The hospital, which will celebrate its 80th anniversary next year, has invested more than Bt1.5 billion over the past 10 years in a physical facelift of the building, as well as upgrading its medical infrastructure and launching new medical centres within its venue.
They are an eye centre, a cardiovascular centre, and a newborn referral centre.
Additional investment capital of between Bt200 million and Bt300 million will be allocated to the hospital over the next five years, including the opening of stroke centre next year, as well as a spine centre in 2019.
Founded in 1938 by the Poh Teck Tung Foundation, Hua Chiew Hospital started out as a non-profit midwifery clinic in Pom Prab Sattru Phai district in Bangkok, with the objective of providing medical services to overseas Chinese living in Thailand.
Chief executive officer Sutee Ketsiri said that in the first year of its 10-year transformation, around 2006, the hospital conducted a major restructuring, reducing its staff by 30 per cent by offering an early-retirement package.
“We were able to stop our losses in just the first two years of our transformation, which kicked off about 10 years ago,” he said.
“With the transformation, the number of outpatients increased from nearly 400,000 in 2005 to 530,000 last year.
“Our billings also surged significantly from Bt400 million in 2005 to approximately Bt1 billion last year,” he said.
He added that meanwhile, the number of hospital staff declined from 1,400 in 2005 to only 850 today.
This means each staff member has to work more efficiently.
Sutee said the hospital now had 338 beds. It has 67 full-time and 245 part-time physicians, and 369 nurses, including practical nurses.
“We aim that in five years when our transformation is fully completed, Hua Chiew Hospital will become a large-scale general private hospital with advanced medical infrastructure and with the ability to provide more complicated treatments.
“We also aim at acquiring advanced hospital accreditation in the future,” he said.
“We want Hua Chiew Hospital to be a role model for other social enterprises in Thailand, especially in the field of education and healthcare.
“We also want to reduce the unequal access to medical services faced by Thais,” he added.
