Barely seven years after it opened, Pattaya Hospital is already falling apart, and city officials urgently met with the facility’s new management to address repairs.
Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome and his deputies met March 17 with doctors, staff and executives from Chularat Hospital, which won the latest hospital-management contract.
The meeting reviewed deteriorating buildings and equipment and how the new management group planned to find ways to improve and most efficiently manage the hospital’s work.
Nothing was left off the table, including facilities, medical treatment, medicine, medical supplies and equipment stocks, medical fees, disbursement, future management, personnel levels and repairs of dilapidated doctors’ accommodations.
Late and over-budget, Pattaya Hospital fully opened in January 2014 after seven months of outpatient and limited in-patient service.
While Pattaya was already home to four large private hospitals – including the western-standard Bangkok Hospital Pattaya and Pattaya International Hospital – city officials claimed before construction began in 2009 that the city’s residents still needed more care than BHP, PIH, Banglamung Hospital and Pattaya Memorial Hospital could provide.
The expense was justified by vague claims about the demands of Pattaya’s booming tourist numbers, residential development and the need for a facility that provided essential medical services while being esthetically attractive to patients.
Cost, however, was likely a stronger motivating factor: While the two international hospitals provide top-quality service, they are prohibitively expensive to most Thais. Meanwhile, the quality of care at overcrowded Memorial and Banglamung hospitals left many clamoring for an alternative, even one as small and limited as Pattaya Hospital.
