Managing the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic in Thailand Towards the World Leading Medical Hub: Perspectives of Health care providers and patients in Thailand

Abstract

The objective of this research is to study managing the COVID-19 epidemic situation in Thailand, which has a positive effect on the development to be a world medical hub.

For the quantitative research part, the data were collected by a survey questionnaire from 418 respondents, and for the qualitative research, four key informants, three persons with direct experiences in dealing with the disease and one expert in marketing and crisis communication, were interviewed.

The quantitative results revealed that medical personnel and the Thai general public have a moderate opinion on the ability to control COVID-19 infectious disease in Thailand. The top three factors were (1) the national laboratory system for infection confirmation, (2) surveillance, disease investigation, and contact tracing, and (3) public and private communications, including community involvement. This is in line with opinions about the medical potential of Thailand as a world medical hub, which overall is at a medium level, and the first factor is the development of medical services. Also, the qualitative results confirmedly found that Thailand's strength in both topics is the ability of Thai physicians. To create confidence, the government should focus on driving the policy seriously. They should accelerate the increase in the number of medical personnel, research medical innovations, and marketing communication.