Khon Kaen University hopes to raise nearly 25 billion baht to develop a 5,000-bed hospital to increase its medical capacity and better serve people in the northeastern region.
Speaking in Bangkok, university rector Kittichai Trairattanasirichai said the project will see the Srinagarind Hospital in Khon Kaen developed into the biggest medical facility in the country and possibly in the Asean region.
Srinagarind Hospital, which is Khon Kaen University's medical training facility, has been expanded over the years to provide medical and healthcare services since its establishment in 2005 with 40 beds.
Currently it has 1,100 beds, serving about 1 million outpatients and 50,000 inpatients yearly. It is also known to specialise in screening and treating people infected with a parasitic worm which can cause cancer.
The number of hospital beds is typically the gauge of a hospital's ability to serve inpatient services.
Mr Kittichai conceded that despite the planned expansion, the hospital is still not big enough to deliver healthcare services to everyone, noting that due to limited capacity some patients are turned away.
"To ensure adequate access to health care we plan to add more beds to lift our capacity to 5,000 beds. It will be the largest medical facility in the country and, possibly, in Asean with 24 billion baht investment," he said.
The development project should allow the hospital to care for more patients, especially those in the Northeast where 22-23 million people live.
"The upgraded facility will be equipped with modern equipment and advanced technology as well as specialists. It will cater to medical needs of the people, physical and mental, as the country enters the aging society," he said.
Charnchai Panthongwiriyakul, dean of the university's faculty of medicine, said the development project is divided into two phases with the first phase expected to be completed in three years.
The costs are expected to be largely funded by public donations, he said.
The first phase development is estimated to cost 14 billion baht and when it is completed, the facility will have 3,500 beds, he said. The second phase with estimated investment of 10 billion baht is likely to proceed immediately.
When fully completed, the hospital's medical capacity will be increased sharply, he said. The number of operation rooms will increase two- or three-fold while ICU beds should go up by 30%.
As a public medical facility, an expanded Srinagarind Hospital will cater to all groups of patients, he said.
Mingkwan Saengsuwan, chief adviser of the project, said people who make donations between four and five million baht will be eligible to receive free medical services.
