Table 1. Projected demand for physicians by foreign patients^a in Thailand, 2003–2015.

Year	Foreign patient visits per year (millions)		Total no of outpatient equivalent visits per year (millions) (3)c	Physician demand by foreigners
	Outpatientsb (1)	Inpatients (2)		Projectiond (4)	Revised projectione (5)
2001	0.61	0.030	1.22	–	–
2002	0.82	0.041	1.64	–	–
2003p	1.26	0.063	2.53	109–131	327–393
2005p	1.76–1.82	0.088–0.091	3.52–3.64	83–111	249–333
2007p	2.45–2.62	0.122–0.131	4.90–5.25	115–160	345–480
2009p	3.18–3.53	0.159–0.176	6.37–7.06	123–181	369–543
2011p	4.14–4.75	0.207–0.237	8.29–9.50	159–244	477–732
2013p	5.01–5.96	0.250−0.298	10.03–11.92	145–242	435–726
2015p	6.06–7.48	0.303−0.373	12.13–14.95	176–303	528–909

p, projected.

^a Includes all foreigners, not just medical tourists.

^b Years 2001–2003, data from Ministry of Commerce survey adjusted upward by 30%; years 2005 and 2007, growth rate assumed to be at 18–20% per year; years 2009 and 2011, growth rate assumed to be at 14–16% per year; years 2013 and 2015, growth rate assumed to be at 10–12% per year.

^c (3) = [(1) + 20] × (2).

^d Each physician assumed to be able to accept 10 000 to 12 000 foreign outpatient visits per year (40 to 48 patients per day).

^e Projection revised by the author with each physician assumed to be able to see a maximum of 16 foreign patients per day. This revised projection was made by adjusting the assumption on physicians’ time spent with each patient, which would triple the demand for physicians: (5) = (4) × (3).

Source: (1) to (4) data from Pachanee & Wibulpolprasert.¹⁰