Developing standards for spa establishments and Thai massage for health in the Federal Republic of Germany

Abstract

As the government has announced a policy to develop Thailand to be an international health center (Thailand as Global Medical Hub), a health business as spa for health and massage for health in Thailand has been very popular. The government has focused on the development of standards for health establishments since the announcement of the Ministry of Public Health in 2004, issued under the Health Service Act B.E.2509 (1966), by providing standards for the establishment that certified by the Ministry of Public Health. In 2009, the Department of Health Service Support, Ministry of Public Health had promoted and developed the health service standard for Thais in Germany, due to the problem of the image for convert sex trafficking in Thai massage business. Therefore the researcher has studied and analyzed the implementation of policies and mechanisms of the Department of Health Service Support, Ministry of Public Health and relevant agencies that the current situation of health establishments for Thais in Germany including what factors affect the development of Thai workplace standards for health in Germany to make the policy recommendation for development of an international health hub for the Thai government.

The results of the study showed that over the past 10 years in Germany, Thai massage and Thai spas have been well-known. There were 379 establishments opened by Thai people extending all over the country. Most of them opened for relaxation massage, only 4 places opened for treatment. The Department of Health Service Support has established the health service standards for Thai spa and massage in Germany by using the standards of ministerial announcement and health service standards for oversea establishments of the department to be as a guideline together with the regulations of Germany, including pushed up for establishment of Thai Spa Association of Germany to be an agency driven the development for spa establishments and Thai massage for health with the government. There were 14 establishments participating in the standard auditing program. It found that section 1 : service was implemented according to the standards of 95.92 percent, section 2 : staff was implemented according to the standards of 100 percent, section 3 : tools, equipment and product were implemented according to the standards of 95 percent, section 4 : organization was implemented according to the standards of 90.01 percent, section 5 : place was implemented according to the standards of 79.69 percent, and section 6 : hygienic management was implemented according to the standards of 76.92 percent.