
Thai ladyboy/katoey interview, Nana Plaza, Bangkok Sept. 2010 and Thailand’s >USD 6 billion medical tourism industry
So here is a new ladyboy/katoey interview. I very much like the picture above, being taken at maybe the “world’s coolest short-time room”: a room with balcony overlooking the Nana Plaza Entertainment entrance, the Nana car park / Nana hotel and the Nana skytrain station.
I ask the ladyboys my usual questions. Both are from Bangkok, the smaller one is 22, the other one Thainee, 24. Main motivation for most men in Thailand to become ladyboys, next to “feeling like a woman inside”, is money and a more exciting job. It is not so difficult to understand why the younger one of them wanted to become a ladyboy when considering that she had a low salary + boring supermarket job before and now she really seems to enjoy her life. Thainee is very communicative and perfect for an entertainment or communicative function. She even went to university but chose to work in ladyboy bar when she got introduced to it by a friend.
We change topics in the end to sex reassignment surgery and the financial expenses of their transformation. Both of them paid THB 50.000 for their breast operation which I consider to be a general price for a fair hospital/doctor. Only the younger one had a sex reassignment operation for which she paid only THB 80.000. In general I hear more often that THB 100k is usual for the hospitals with a certain reputation.It is very important to inform yourself well about the physician and clinic in general. The risk is not that high but nobody wants to be the one where the operation doesn’t achieve its goal or even worse.
We play a litte around with numbers now : In the video we come to the conclusion that maybe 0.5% of the Thai male population turn into ladyboys and maybe 1% in Bangkok which already is a strong/high assumption. Thailand has a population of approximately 60 million and Bangkok of about 9 million. We drop out people below 18-years-old and over 60-years-old. This means we have for Thailand a population of around 45 million and for Bangkok 6.5 million in the target age range. In whole Thailand we would then have potentially 225.000 ladyboys and in Bangkok 65.000 ladyboys. Those numbers look about right from my experience and feeling. About 50.000 ladyboys in Bangkok could be really true.
Let’s assume of the about 50.000 Bangkok ladyboys that 10% get a sex reassignment surgery for THB 100k and maybe 20% take hormones and get a breast operation for maybe THB 50K. That would be THB 500 million revenues coming from sex change and THB 500 million coming from breast operation = THB 1 billion = about USD 33.3 million. That doesn’t include costs for maybe permanent hair removal, hormones and other additional cosmetic treatments. With my estimation I would get to a domain beauty enhancement market caused by Thai ladyboys of approximately USD 50 million. I heard from people in the medical industry in Thailand that the number shall be around USD 100 million. Maybe that was exaggerated, who knows.
Check the video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3vSc-aMr_E

Thailand is Asia’s most popular medical hub. Believe it, it is true ! The market is growing 14% annually there, having a size of more than USD 6 billion (!), according to Research and Markets. In India the treatments might be cheaper but nobody can beat Thailand with the all-around package. Thailand is long accustomed of receiving foreign travellers, English is understood well and it is just a perfect tourist spot where a medical stay will feel like vacation when your time inside the hospital feels more like being in a hotel, getting treated by the most gentle people and being offered good meals too ! I had stayed 2 days at Bumrungrad myself in 2008 and was very impressed.
In 2009, 2 million tourists came to Thailand to take advantage of the healthcare services. Healthcare costs in Thailand are about 20% of what you would pay in the United States. People are often coming for general check-ups, dental and cosmetic surgery services.
Bangkok hospital served almost 200.000 international patients in 2009 and Bumrungrad around 75.000 from what I heard. A great resource for Thailand’s medical tourism is provided from the Tourism Authority of Thailand :
http://www.thailandmedtourism.com

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