Bangkok - Thai hospitals attracted an estimated 1.4 million foreign patients last year, earning the country about 70 billion baht (2 billion dollars) from medical tourism, media reports said Monday.

Tanatip Supparit, chief executive officer of Piyavate Hospital - one of about 30 Thai hospitals that cater to foreign patients - estimated that some 1.4 million foreigners received medical care in Thailand in 2008, with 800,000 receiving "complicated treatment," reported The Nation newspaper.

Tanatip estimated that medical tourism, which Thailand has been promoting for almost a decade, earned the country 70 billion baht (2 billion dollars) in revenues last year, of which 20 billion baht went to hospitals and the remaining 50 billion was spent on travel and shopping.

Piyavate Hospital, which plans a 400-million-baht expansion this year, claims that 20 to 25 per cent of its patients last year were foreigners, who contributed 50 per cent of the hospital's 1-billion-baht revenues.

Besides Piyavate, the other two groups catering specially to foreign patients are Bumrungrad Hospital and Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS).

Bumrungrad Hospital, one of the most successful in tapping the foreign market, claimed to have had about 400,000 foreign patients in 2008. (dpa)