Thai doctors to offer treatment at NITOR

Physicians of reputed Thai hospitals will offer treatment to some 55 patients at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) as part of the 55th diplomatic relations between Dhaka and Bangkok, officials of the foreign ministry said.Bangladesh and Thailand set up diplomatic relations on October 5, 1972 after Bangladesh got the independence on December 16, 1971.The interim government of Professor Dr Mohammad Yunus send a good number of seriously injured patients to different hospitals in Thailand to offer them best treatment.Thailand has better medical healthcare system and the treatment by Thai orthopedic surgeons will also help Bangladeshi doctors and nurses improve skill, said a professor of Nitor.A preliminary delegation of Thai medical team will arrive in Dhaka on November 2, 2026 and assess and review the situation at the NITOR.  The main team will come on November 4 and will conduct the surgery at Nitor in consultation of the institute, sources said.Meanwhile, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, also a popular destination of medical tourism, issue over three hundred visas to Bangladeshis per year, including a good number of that is medical visa.Some 150,000—200,000 Bangladeshis visit Thailand in a year and a good of number of them avail themselves of treatment in Thailand .As India tightened issuing visas to Bangladeshis after the ungracious departure of former Prime Minister Shekh Hasina, several thousand Bangladeshi patients chose Thailand to get the treatment, sources said.   The treatment cost in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are 4/5 times higher than it is in Bangladesh. Even treatment costs in major Indian cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai are also expensive.Most patients with complications in heart, neuro and eye go to India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore to avail themselves of the better treatment..Dr Syed Abdul Hamid, a professor at the Institute of Health Economics of the University of Dhaka, said “Health sector is neglected in Bangladesh, and better health management and Medicare, higher training of physicians, nurses and technicians  and commitment on the part of the government can help improve health system in the country and rein in the tendency of patients going abroad.’Dr Hamid has 23 years experience of teaching and research in health economics and published widely in the peer reviewed international journals.