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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Medical Visas or more accurately I would say we are discussing Medical Visas which have been proposed and apparently approved in principle. 

Quoting directly from an article in the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Medical Visas for Rich Tourist Gets Green Light. Quoting directly: "The Cabinet yesterday approved in principle a Medical Treatment Visa scheme to attract wealthier foreign tourists under the Government's Medical Hub policy. Deputy Government Spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek," sorry transliterated Thai sometimes just gets me, especially "nam sakul", last names, sometimes just gets me; excuse me. Quoting further: "She said the multiple entry Visa under the non-MT category will be valid for one year and is non-renewable and the Visa holder can be accompanied by up to three people." I am presuming the MT is Medical Tourist. So it is a Non-Immigrant Visa and it is for medical tourism. Quoting further and quoting directly from Miss Rachada: "They can stay in Thailand for no more than 90 days and if the patient needs further medical treatment in the country, they must report to Immigration Authorities every 90 days as well as show the Medical Certificates issued by state or private hospitals where they are admitted." Miss Rachada said." So, interesting stuff here. It looks like Thailand is going to be implementing a much more long-term Immigration category associated with Medical Treatment.

As we have discussed in other videos becoming a medical tourism hub is something that I think policy makers in Thailand are aspiring to. They would like to see Thailand become a medical hub and as they should. Quite frankly the medical services and the facilities here in Thailand are top notch. I mean worldwide they are state of the art and a lot of folks not only from the region here in Southeast Asia but even for example from the Gulf States and other places throughout the world, in fact I know a lot of folks from Australia come up for example for dental work and other countries as well come to Thailand every year for medical treatment. In my opinion it is good to see that the Immigration establishment in Thailand has gone ahead and seen fit to create a Visa category specifically for these folks because as we have seen in the past and as we saw it with COVID in the beginning days especially, Medical Visas have always been kind of a difficult thing to deal with in the sense that in some cases different people may not have been able to even get a specifically medical-based visa and then they get here on a Visa that doesn't really comport with their status in Thailand, what they are doing in Thailand and you have these situations where you were kind of having to work around an obtuse visa category to keep that person in status so they could get the treatment they needed. To have a category specifically for medical purposes and to see it be a much more long at least in principle be approved for a long-term for example in this case of 1- year type of Visa, I definitely think that is a good thing.