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Dr. Sebastian Ruetten (third from left), head of Spine Surgery and Pain Therapy at St. Anna Hospital in Herne, Germany, was in Thailand recently for a lecture and workshop on full-endoscopic spinal surgery. Bumrungrad surgeons Dr. Verapan Kuansongtham and Dr. Sompoch Paiboosirijit, who trained with Dr. Ruetten in Germany, taught the Ruetten technique to 30 doctors from Thailand and overseas. The workshop was co-hosted by Bumrungrad, the Faculty of Science at Mahidol University, and the Faculty of Medicine at Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University. It will be conducted biannually in both Thailand and Germany. Pictured with Dr. Ruetten are Dr. Sinn Anuras (fourth from left), Group Medical Director of Bumrungrad; Dr. Verapan (second from left); Dr. Sompoch (second from right); and spine specialists at Bumrungrad.

Bumrungrad International is pleased to announce the launch of “The World Famous Flavors of Thailand”, the 11th year of the popular program offering menus designed by Thailand’s top chefs to the hospital’s patients.

Nearly half of Bumrungrad’s million annual patients are international visitors, making the hospital one of the world’s most popular medical travel destinations. Bumrungrad and its food service partner Sodexo serve over 1,500 meals each day.

The Great Chefs program is highlighted prominently throughout the hospital. It has attracted local and international media attention. “This year we are again privileged to have talented chefs from top hotels designing delicious and healthy dishes for our patients. These chefs, together with Sodexo and our nutritionists, will prove that hospital food doesn’t have to be bland or boring,” said Mack Banner, Bumrungrad International’s CEO.

Under the Great Chefs program, each restaurant works with the hospital’s kitchen to design or adapt a healthy menu, which is then featured for a month. The special menus are available at no extra charge to patients, giving them the opportunity to sample dishes created by some of Thailand’s best restaurants.

Mr. Mack Banner, Bumrungrad CEO, with a medical team and volunteers to support Habitat for Humanity to build 82 homes for needy Thai families as a present for the King of Thailand, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in honor of his 82nd birthday. 

Bumrungrad is the official medical provider for over 3,000 Habitat volunteers from around the world who will join Habitat for Humanity’s 2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. The event will be take place in Sansai District of Chiang Mai from 15th to 20th November 2009.

Bumrungrad will also donate 82 first aid kits to 82 families as part of this project. Hospital volunteers will also help build a house for one of the families.

The HIMSS AsiaPac'10 Exposition will take place in Beijing, China, from the 26th to 28th of May, 2010. This exhibition-led event is organized by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), a not-for-profit and nongovernmental, international healthcare membership organization.

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This is a new, exclusive, invitation-only executive level forum for education, collaboration and dialogue. Top leaders from healthcare, IT and government will convene to help advance the quality of healthcare delivery. Held in the colourful City of Daegu, the third largest city in Korea located in the Southeastern part of the Korean peninsula. The event will feature a leadership summit designed to foster intensive knowledge exchange and networking opportunities at the most senior level.

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Which takes place in Daegu, Korea, from the 26th to the 28th of October, 2010. The congress will feature conference and education sessions aimed at providing healthcare IT leaders an opportunity to network and exchange ideas in order to advance quality healthcare delivery. The HIMSS Asia'10 Health IT Congress will also feature an exhibition floor showcasing the latest solutions available today, promising to be a place for intensive knowledge exchange where the best minds gather, and a platform for unlimited networking opportunities as leaders from healthcare, government and IT converge.

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Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva recently presented the 2009 “Thailand’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies” award to Dr. Chamaree Chuapetcharasopon, Bumrungrad International’s Medical Director. The competition included 456 publicly-listed companies. Ten finalists were awarded based on return on sales, performance, innovation, internal processes and management.

Bumrungrad was named winner in the service category last year. The award adds to a list of honors received by the hospital this year, including “Growth Excellence Awards” by Frost & Sullivan, and a “Best Practice Workplace Award on Labor Relations and Labor Welfare Award 2009” by the Ministry of Labor 

Readers of the Wall Street Journal Asia recently picked the Thai companies they most admired. Bumrungrad International hospital scored sixth highest overall, joining such top Thai companies as Siam Cement, Charoen Pokphand, and PTT.

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Bumrungrad International is pleased to announce the launch of its 2009 “Great Chefs” program—now in its 10th consecutive year.

Over the past nine years, Bumrungrad International has showcased some of Thailand’s best restaurants and hotels through its Great Chefs program. This year, 12 of the country’s finest chefs, together with the hospital’s nutritionists and food service partner Sodexo, will create healthy menus representing “The Seven Amazing Wonders of Thailand.” The Great Chefs 2009 theme thus compliments the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s ‘Amazing Thailand’ campaign to promote the country internationally.

Every year Bumrungrad treats 1.2 million patients from over 190 countries. It is the most popular hospital destination for the world’s medical tourists.

“We introduced Great Chefs in 2000 to demonstrate that hospital food doesn’t have to be boring,” said Mr. Mack Banner, Bumrungrad’s CEO. “This year, we wanted to connect these expert chefs to what’s special about Thailand—for example, great beaches and delicious seafood. The TAT campaign offers a natural tie-in.”

The participating hotels include: Swissotel Le Concorde Bangkok, Pan Pacific Bangkok, Sofitel Centara Grand Bangkok, Banyan Tree Bangkok, JW Marriott Bangkok, Pathumwan Princess, Amari Boulevard, Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa, Conrad Bangkok, Dusit Thani Bangkok, InterContinental Bangkok, and Courtyard By Marriott Bangkok.

Under the Great Chef program, top hotel chefs work with Sodexo, Bumrungrad’s food service partner, to design 12 special menus, each featured for one month of the year. These menus are available at no extra charge, giving patients the opportunity to sample creative dishes from Thailand’s culinary experts. The hospital serves over 1,000 Great Chef meals each month.

www.bumrungrad.com is a hospital website serving international audiences, Thais, and expatriates.

The Award organizers said the site “makes it easy for prospective patients to find the information they are interested in, provide an efficient way to make inquiries and request appointments, and provide information to help international medical travelers understand how to get care at Bumrungrad.”

JWT Connect, Bangkok, helped the hospital redesign its home page, focusing on audience segmentation and content architecture, earlier this year.

The award adds to a list of honors achieved by Bumrungrad in 2008, including “Thailand’s Most Innovative Company” by Chulalongkorn University’s School of Business; top medical tourism destination (Tourism Authority of Thailand); top Thai
company for quality of products and services (Asian Wall Street Journal); and excellence in information technology (Assoc. of Medical Directors of Information Systems).

Bumrungrad hospital wins first “Thailand’s Most Innovative Company” award

Bumrungrad International hospital has won “Thailand’s Most Innovative Company” award in the first year of the event, organized by Chulalongkorn University’s School of Business. The competition considered over 500 publicly-listed companies, narrowing them down on the basis of performance, innovation, internal processes and management. Bumrungrad and PTT Exploration and Production were named winners in the Service and Manufacturing categories, respectively.

The award adds to a list of honors achieved by Bumrungrad this year, including top medical tourism destination (Tourism Authority of Thailand); top Thai company for quality of products and services (Asian Wall Street Journal); and excellence in information technology (Assoc. of Medical Directors of Information Systems).

Dr. Chamaree Chuapetcharasopon (left), the hospital’s Medical Director, accepted the award from Prof. Dr. Pirom Kamol-Ratanakul, President of Chulalongkorn University.

Bumrungrad International Clinic Honoured at 2008 Asia Pacific interior Design Awards

Bumrungrad International Clinic has received international recognition for its design at the 16th Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards. The Clinic, which opened in July, was designed by dwp (design worldwide partnership), a leading Thailand-based design company.

For its design, dwp won a silver prize in Institution & Public Space Category at the Asia Pacific Interior Design Association (APIDA) presentation ceremony, held on
November 5th at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. The event, organized by the Hong Kong Interior Design Association (HKIDA), recognizes outstanding design achievements and ethics among interior design practices operating in the Asia Pacific
region.

The Clinic was designed to double the hospital’s capacity to 6,000 outpatients per day. Innovative technology, new services and amenities, and a relaxing environment have been designed to make it a comfortable and convenient place for patients to see their doctors.

Mounting scientific evidence has shown that environmental characteristics influence patient health outcomes. Many studies, including a recent report by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, show that well-designed hospital environments can reduce patient anxiety, lower blood pressure, and lessen pain, while increasing quality of care and staff retention.

Mack Banner, Bumrungrad’s CEO, said, “It is an honor to have our Clinic recognized by this prestigious international award. We appreciate the opportunity to work with a great partner like dwp. We look forward to the next phase of work, which will include upgrading clinics and patient rooms in our main building.”

Sarinrath Kamolratanapiboon, Business Development Director of dwp Thailand said, “We are proud of our achievement and honored to receive this award category. This is testament to Thailand’s design industry capabilities. This truly is rewarding and encouraging to our entire team at dwp.”

Bumrungrad International first hospital to win TAT Thailand Tourism Award of Excellence in Medical Tourism

Bumrungrad International won the Award of Excellence in the category of Health Tourism at the 7th Thailand Tourism Awards Saturday. It was the first year the TAT added a category for health tourism and Bumrungrad was the first hospital to win the award.

Mr. Mack Banner (1st right), the hospital’s CEO, accepted the Golden Kinnaree award. He is shown here with other hospital executives, at the award ceremony presided over by Mr. Weerasak Kowsurat (center), Minister of Tourism and Sports, and Mrs. Pornsiri Manoharn (2nd right), TAT Governor.

Bumrungrad was recently reaccredited by the US-based Joint Commission International (JCI). The JCI rigorously reviews and re-accredits hospitals every three years. Bumrungrad was the first hospital in Asia to be JCI-accredited in 2002, and was reaccredited in 2005 and now in 2008.