Thailand

Healthcare System

Despite being a developing country, Thailand is among the leading nations of the Southeast Asia region boasts a fair health care system. Although not every Thai has health insurance, they can easily access to the hospitals and other medical units and can afford the payment for the treatment or other related costs. The health care system here can be divided into 3 systems for different reasons including occupation, socioeconomic status, and convenience.

The first system is the Social Welfare System. This represents both the national level and the organization-specific level. For the national level, the government has recently passed the policy on the Universal Coverage System, which mainly benefits every Thai who are excluded from other specific systems such as the full coverage for the governmental employees. For the organization-specific level, health care payment is covered for specific groups of people, i.e. a military officer will have easy access to the military hospitals.

The second system is the Insurance system. This system includes all health insurance buyers both who independently buy the insurance plans from private insurance companies and employees who are required pay for social insurance according to the governmental policy. In this system, both the insurance provider and owners pay for health care costs, so it is also known as the Co-Payment System.

The third system is the Self Payment System. This is normally used among the groups of high socioeconomic status because of the whole self-payment deal, which mostly takes place in the private hospitals.

Currency

• The currency used in Thailand is THB
• 1 THB = IDR 497,40

Food

1. Tom Yam

Shrimp is mixed in a hot and sour broth flavored with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce, and chili peppers for a spicy kick. You can add in your choice of meat for this which can be chicken, beef, pork, or shrimp. You can also order tom yum goong with coconut milk (tom yum goong nam kohn) or without (tom yum goong nam sai).

2. Phad Thai

These rice noodles are stir-fried with tofu, bean sprouts, eggs, and either shrimp or chicken followed by some other seasonings like chili, fish sauce, ground peanuts, and sugar.

3. Som Tam

Som tam’s main component is shredded green papaya, which is cloaked in the flavors of ground chili, cherry tomatoes, garlic, and green beans. Fish sauce, lime, sugar, and peanuts are also thrown in for a spicy, sweet and sour flavor.

4. Mango Sticky Rice

Indulge in juicy mango slices and a sticky rice drenched in coconut cream or condensed milk

Transportation

1. Train

The cheapest mean of transport in Thailand. The third class tickets are very cheap. But the trains are very slow, their average speed is about 40 km/h and thai trains are almost always late.

2. Bus

For long distance journeys, the bus is the No. 1 mean of transport in Thailand, it takes you almost enywhere in the country.

3. Songthaew

The songthaews are collective taxis or local buses

4. Tuk-tuk

These small stylized vehicles are fun to take, it’s part of the adventure of a tourist in Bangkok.

5. Boat and Ferry

Thailands has many beautiful islands, and you must necessarily take a boat to get there.

Exchange Condition

https://exchange.ifmsa.org/exchange/scope/explore/conditions/view/89