Bangkok Hospital Group, Thailand

I feel to write as well on this blog regarding Bangkok Hospital as I can simply not understand the arrogance of this place.

My Name is Klaus R. Rauter, I am the Managing Director of Mai-BS (Thailand) ( http://mai-bs.com) and I did experience the issues mentioned here in Thai language first hand.

I simply cannot understand how a hospital like Bangkok Hospital does ignore the straight facts for their own shortcomings and the only solution for them is as follows: Sending us a email with a contract indicating that they will give us our money back but we must sign a contract with the Hospital that they only give us this money to “HELP” us!! AND that we must sign and promise that we don’t tell anyone about this issue!!

Dear Bangkok Hospital, My I ask what help you can give us? Help us with what?

Nowhere did you mention that you know we are right and that you are wrong, and that’s why you like to give us the money back!!

Bangkok Hospital is wrong in selling us a product with certain services they could not provide!

• I myself received information from Bangkok Hospital Doctor and Service Staff that the Management of this Hospital will NEVER respond to our complaint as they never admit to their shortcomings of medical ethics, product and service.
• I myself received information form Hospital Doctor and Service staff that there are many patients who complains about Chivawattana Card.
• I myself received verbal information from Hospital Doctor that many people in customer service and marketing, people with solid ethics and values resign as they are struggling with internal politics and have to face so many complaints which they cannot handle as the hospital never accept any responsibility for their shortcomings. The Doctor said: How can this people solve a problem if the patient is considered to be wrong at all times…. Even the patient is right!! (This is not important to this case, but I want to say it) I never ever received on word of apology or a call except one call to get the a phone number!!

I am a foreigner with the privilege to living since 23 years here in Thailand. All my years I worked in the service industry, and a person who devoted his life to the service industry, I am stunned and shocked about the arrogance of this hospital.

My questions today to this Hospital:

• If you know that you are wrong, why don’t you apologies properly and accept your mistakes and shortcomings?
• If you are convinced you are right, why not one of your very senior mangers sits with us and talk it out? (But please not again send us a junior guest service employee who admits that we are right, admits that we got a very strong point and issue, …. and that’s it!!

Facts:

About one month after started to write on this blog and complain about the shortcomings of Chivawattana Card, Bangkok Hospital announced in a media campaign that together with IBM that they finally invested in a system to link the patient records and medical history in their own group of hospitals.

In my humble opinion, Bangkok Hospital Group did put their patients in risk of receiving wrong treatments since they advertised that patients can use Chivawattana Card in any of their hospitals in their group to continue check up and treatments. However, without linking the history of patients this is an issue! I might be wrong, but since no manager from this Hospital dare to talk to us, we assume we are right!! Besides that, not even the simple effort to call the other hospital in the same hospital group to get the medial files by fax or email was made. Only ones we discovered that patient data is not linked and after we refused to continue with further check-up and treatment the employees of this hospital asked us if we would feel better if they arrange the medical files by fax to compare) PS: our lawyer confirmed that we are right!

Me too will use this issue as well as a case study for my work to teach others about ethics, values, service recovery and the serious issues with fake advertisement. This is really a classic example when the senior management and sales and marketing of a business come up with a new product, service or promotion without consulting with the operational management and line staff! (As per one doctor and two customer relation employees of those the hospital, this is the case!!)

When organizations become too big, they actually forget why they become that big!! Think about this for a couple of hours dear General Managers and CEO of Bangkok Hospital!!