In the evolving landscape of global healthcare, visionary leadership plays a pivotal role in shaping hospitals that not only provide cutting-edge medical services but also deliver compassionate, patient-centric care. At the heart of this transformation in Northeastern Thailand is Dr. Teerawat Srinakarin, CEO of Ratchaphruek Hospital in Khon Kaen, a premier healthcare institution recognized for its excellence in medical travel, expatriate care, and holistic healing environments.
Under Dr. Teerawat’s leadership, Ratchaphruek Hospital has gained prominence as a destination of choice for international patients, particularly expatriates residing in Thailand’s Issan region. His commitment to high-quality healthcare, patient advocacy, and innovative hospital design has positioned Ratchaphruek as a key player in Thailand’s growing medical tourism sector.
Recently, the hospital achieved GHA Accreditation with Excellence, reinforcing its dedication to world-class patient care and safety. As the hospital continues to expand its services, including a new medical aesthetic center, Dr. Teerawat remains steadfast in his mission to provide compassionate, personalized, and innovative healthcare solutions to both local and international patients.
In this exclusive CEO Spotlight interview with Medical Tourism Magazine, Dr. Teerawat shares his insights on healthcare leadership, medical tourism, patient-centered care, and the future of Ratchaphruek Hospital. He discusses the hospital’s unique focus on the expatriate community, the impact of holistic architectural design on patient healing, and the hospital’s role in positioning northeast Thailand as a rising hub for medical travel.
What motivates you as a healthcare leader, and how do you incorporate your personal values into the hospital’s approach to delivering exceptional care for local and international patients?
The personal values that compose my belief system allow me to maintain my motivation and shape my leadership style. Reevaluating my values occasionally, encourages me to confirm my values within my personal life and my chosen career. My basic personal values stem from my upbringing, my choice of role models and my earliest experiences as a medical doctor serving my community in rural Thailand. My youthful dream was to be a medical doctor, and Prince Mahidol Adulyadej of Songkla, revered as Thailand's “Father of Modern Medicine” was my lofty role model. I came to strongly believe that a medical doctor's role in our society was one of being a “healer.” This meant that I would have no limitations in service to a patient based on wealth, social position, racial origin, or personal belief system (mine or theirs). I dreamed of being a true healer. Healing meant that I would assist with repair, regeneration, solving, recuperation, and growing sound. I continue to host this sense of contribution each day.
You’ve been a strong advocate for a person-centric approach to healthcare. How does this philosophy influence the way your hospital designs and delivers medical care, especially for medical travelers?
As a strong advocate for a person-centric approach to healthcare, I believe that our foundation must be seeing patients as people, not as customers. This requires placing the individual at the center of focus, prioritizing their unique experiences, needs, and perspectives. Each person has a broad identity, so we include their family and friends in the care plan whenever possible since they are a critical component in the foundation of healing.
Secondly, as an employer, we must remain in the realm of “people caring for people” as we consider the medical support system's deep importance, which includes doctors, specialists, nurses, aides, clerical, technicians, maintenance persons, etc. Creating a people-centric atmosphere with behavioral conditions that nurture the desired culture is a critical and challenging task. Establishing and reinforcing core values as a team process affects work in several ways. These values provide the foundations for how employees interact with each other and help define an organization’s culture and environment. A set of values helps facilitate trust between coworkers, encourages collaboration and open communication, and allows workers to focus on their roles and responsibilities. By establishing expectations for behavior, a company’s core values can also help everyone stay on the same page and work together to reach shared objectives.
Ratchaphruek Hospital has a unique focus on the expatriate community as part of its medical travel program. What inspired you to prioritize this group, and how has it shaped your strategy for international patient care?
Two main factors influenced our decision to focus on local expatriates during our introductory phase of servicing international patients. The first is that we have found over the past few years that many global expats have chosen to make their home here in the region of Issan (the 20 provinces of Northeastern Thailand), of which Khon Kaen is the commercial and political center and home to Ratchaphruek Hospital. That market potential is complimented by the estimated number of foreign citizens living in Thailand as between 3–4 million persons. Many of these expatriates are married to Thai citizens and often have resided here for over 5 years. Therefore, the second factor of influence was that by creating this new focus of providing medical services to expatriates, our staff would acquire essential experience servicing patients who hold unique cultural beliefs, exhibit unique habits and may utilize different languages to communicate.
Simultaneously, we were determined to initiate a new program within the hospital named the “Patient and Family Advocacy Program.” In initiating this program, international expatriates provided us with a wonderful resource of patients originally from foreign countries. Their participation has been incredibly helpful in our overall growth and development.
Your hospital’s architectural design integrates natural light and open spaces to aid healing. How does this design philosophy reflect your overall vision for healthcare, and how do you believe it impacts the patient experience?
Ratchaphruek Hospital is very proud of each step taken in our health-care journey with our patients and their families. An initial step was the creation of a new full-facility hospital whose unique architectural and environmental principles generate a climate that encourages positive feelings of improved health and wellness.
The dream was to create a comprehensive hospital of architectural design that generated the desired emotional effect, regardless of the great challenge. I accepted this challenge 7 years ago when we commenced drafting our new facility. Honestly speaking, there were many moments of doubt. My driving force was consistent in the absolute belief in the benefits of an unconventional healing hospital whose unique architectural and environmental principles generate a climate that encourages positive feelings of improved health and wellness. The essential impression prevailing throughout the hospital would be the common belief and demonstration of professional medical personnel serving holistically within an environment encouraging comfortable, healing, and positive patients, the ultimate goal of humanized care. Human caring involves efforts of all staff to instill a feeling of well-being, creating a physical and psychological setting in which the patient feels comfortable and hopeful, which aids their healing. Many observers watched the creation and construction of this creative new hospital moving beyond the traditional hospital design and were left with some level of wonderment. Our architectural and emotional goal was to enhance relationships and communications with patients and families while providing international standard medical services. Ratchaphruek Hospital has now carefully designed, managed and implemented our medical delivery systems based on human caring. A loving and purposeful attitude and respect for the beliefs, values, feelings, culture, and individuality of patients are cornerstones of our Hospital.
We are heartened by the wide variety of compliments and testimonials from our patients and their families, who describe us as “warm as home.” I am so thankful that I was supported by others who reaffirmed my vision of what was possible.
Ratchaphruek Hospital recently earned GHA Accreditation with Excellence. What tangible improvements have you observed in your medical travel program? How has this recognition helped you stand out in the competitive landscape of global healthcare?
When I first learned of the Global Healthcare Accreditation system, we noted that the focus was on Medical Travel/ Tourism Services. However, I quickly realized that the GHA philosophy aligned deeply with our hospital’s commitment to high-quality patient care, even though our primary focus has traditionally been on serving the Thai community. I was struck by the realization that our hospital with our primary focus on Thai people, would benefit greatly from the endearing philosophy of GHA. During the first phase of our accreditation process with GHA, we were challenged to look deeply inward, reexamining our standard daily delivery systems and patient services, and to then identify and correct weaknesses we observed when preparing to service international patients and their families. This was an extremely healthy process for our entire organization.
During the second phase of the accreditation process, we experienced an identifiable pathway with clearly marked checkpoints for our teams to accept responsibility for any weaknesses and learn how to make team-oriented adjustments. This process was of substantial benefit to both the workplace strategy and in shaping a new culture that directly and indirectly positively impacted our existing patient base and our new international patients.
Ratchaphruek Hospital had an outstanding experience with GHA. We are delighted to highlight that GHA’s surveyor team conducted meticulous assessments according to all GHA’s standards while maintaining a warm and friendly demeanor. As a result, we felt thoroughly evaluated, genuinely supported and confident about the GHA accreditation process. The GHA Accreditation with Excellence affirms our position as a leading medical institution and reinforces our commitment to delivering world-class care.
In addition to GHA accreditation, Ratchaphruek Hospital places great emphasis on continuous staff training and education. How do these initiatives contribute to maintaining high standards in both clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction?
At Ratchaphruek Hospital, we recognize that achieving excellence in healthcare is an ongoing process. In addition to our GHA accreditation, we place great emphasis on continuous staff training and education as a key strategy for maintaining high standards in both clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction.
From a clinical perspective, ongoing education ensures that our medical professionals stay up to date with the latest advancements in medical research, technology, and treatment protocols. Regular training sessions, hands-on workshops, and collaborations with international medical experts enable our teams to refine their skills, adopt innovative practices, and enhance patient safety. By fostering a culture of continuous learning, we ensure that our clinicians provide the most effective and evidence-based care, leading to improved treatment outcomes, reduced complications, and faster recovery times.
Beyond clinical excellence, continuous training also plays a crucial role in enhancing the patient experience. We prioritize soft skills development, focusing on communication, cultural competency, and empathy to ensure that every patient—whether local or international—feels heard, respected, and cared for. Training programs help staff members anticipate patient needs, provide clear explanations, and create a welcoming environment that fosters trust and confidence.
Ultimately, our investment in education and training not only strengthens our clinical capabilities but also elevates the overall patient journey. By equipping our staff with both technical expertise and compassionate care skills, we uphold the highest standards of healthcare, ensuring exceptional outcomes and unparalleled patient satisfaction.
How do you see Ratchaphruek Hospital’s role in positioning northeast Thailand as a growing destination for medical tourism, particularly in comparison to other more well-known regions like Bangkok?
Ratchaphruek Hospital has been a welcome fixture in the Province of Khon Kaen and Northeast Thailand regions for over 30 years. Our contributions and active participation in the affairs and events of the Issan Region of Thailand are well documented. As the concept of Medical Tourism Travel rapidly gained popularity after the COVID experience, it became clear that our location and uniqueness in Northeast Thailand was a perfect fit for a “wellness corridor,” and Ratchaphrueck Hospital was a special fit for assuming a leadership role for many medical travel-related industries and providers along the entire medical travel care continuum.
Our hospital offers a blend of international safety standards, advanced medical technology, broad travel options in unique locations, and cost-effective healthcare. These well-established offerings motivate many potential patients to hold a positive belief in our well-deserved world-class reputation. Ratchaphruek Hospital’s history has solidified both the reputation for Thailand as well as that of our own hospital and each year we face new challenges and welcome new opportunities. I view Ratchaphruek Hospital as a member of a national team of medical providers that have a responsibility to the other team members to enhance our hospital's unique qualities, attributes, environment, and medical offerings while respecting our professional colleagues. Since marketing our entire country is a priority, comparing provinces, weather patterns, populations, or air quality to the detriment of our “teammates” throughout Thailand seems self-defeating. Thailand is among the world's leading medical tourism destinations, and the positive reputation of our “wellness corridor” continues to grow. I believe this growth will stand the test of time as visitors to Ratchaphruek are often struck by the warmth, kindness and expertise of our medical service providers and the level of professional care. This continued excellent work by our Ratchaphruek Hospital staff results in pride in being an honorable flag bearer for our country.
In such a competitive Asian medical travel market, what do you see as the biggest challenges your hospital faces? How does Ratchaphruek’s unique location and distinct philosophy to patient care help you stand out and overcome these challenges?
Northeast Thailand or Isaan is the largest region in Thailand, consisting of twenty Provinces including Khon Kaen Province. The capital is Khon Kaen City which is Thailand’s fourth largest city and home to Ratchaphruek Hospital.
Khon Kaen Province is comprised of many villages. People living in Bangkok refer to Khon Kaen as the “countryside”. The majority of our staff are from this region therefore culturally, they view Ratchaphruek Hospital as their unique village, therefore, it is often referred as “like home” by our staff and patients. The hospital is far from the tourist entertainment hotspots, offering medical tourism patients a glimpse into traditional Thai life and the deep cultural roots of Thailand. We refer to this as our healing environment.
Here, we believe that every patient and staff member is unique, deserving of care that goes beyond conventional treatment, support or consideration. Our philosophy centers on a personalized, person-first approach where compassion, respect, and empathy guide every interaction.
As with most programs of excellence, the challenge is to not become complacent. Here at Ratchaphruek Hospital we consistently focus on the happiness and well-being of all management and staff, encouraging a person-centric healing environment. It is an ongoing process. Low levels of work motivation among healthcare professionals has been documented worldwide, posing a significant challenge to the effectiveness of most healthcare systems. In fact, we observe that hospital staff find it difficult to meet the needs of potential or present patients when their own personal needs are not satisfied We seamlessly integrate advanced medical technology with holistic healing practices, ensuring that physical, emotional, and mental well-being are prioritized. Our commitment to excellence is reflected in our multidisciplinary teams, who work collaboratively to deliver world-class care tailored to each individual's needs. Our International Patient Department and Patient Advocate Program greatly supports international patients. We constantly search for new ideas and services to enhance the patient experience and motivate our employees positively. At Ratchaphruek, your health is our purpose, and your trust is our greatest achievement.
What future innovations or developments can we expect from Ratchaphruek Hospital as you continue to expand your medical travel services and enhance your international reputation?
We are expanding our specialized medical services in aesthetic medicine by constructing a second hospital building. Thailand is globally recognized for its expertise in this field, aligning with the growing wellness trend. This expansion will further enhance our reputation, attracting more medical tourists to our Province and strengthening international confidence in Thai doctors’ skills. Additionally, increased medical tourism will boost the local economy, benefiting businesses through greater financial circulation. However, above all, our priority is to provide specialized and safe medical services that adhere to the correct principles for the well-being of people world
