Hospital Capacity Planning for Special Economic Zone in Thailand: A Case Study in Kanchanaburi Province

Increasing the employment demand in a particular region has an impact on the healthcare system due to types of occupational diseases/injuries and number of workers. Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand, is one of target areas to launch special economic zone (SEZ), which will cause dramatic population growth. Thus the aim of this research is to propose hospital capacity planning in Kanchanaburi taking into account the upcoming SEZ. This study employs a two-stage approach for data collection and validation. Firstly, interview and focus group is used to gather all related healthcare logistic issues. Then hospital’s capacity is forecasted based on target health provider-topopulation ratios. The results show that current healthcare services in Kanchanaburi will not be sufficient to support the projected population.