History

In the afternoon of February 1, 1985, Theptarin opened its doors to our first client.  By January 31, 2005, twenty years later, we had served 216,762 individual patients.

Through being educated and working as an endocrinologist in the United States, Professor Thep Himathongkam, MD had the opportunity to experience the modern team approach to diabetes care.  He returned to Thailand in 1974 with the determination to make the same service available for Thai diabetes patients.

After 10 years of effort in the government institutions, Dr.Himathongkam concluded that the task must be tackled in a private setting.  He founded the “Theptarin Diabetes and Endocrine Center” in 1985 to create a diabetes care team model.  The ultimate goal is, however, much further -- to raise the standard of diabetes care throughout Thailand.

Though a private health care facility, Theptarin not only focuses its work on service but also education, research, and social responsibility.

Service
When Theptarin first opened as the “Theptarin Diabetes and Endocrine Center,” we were only a medium-size clinic operating from 2pm-8pm with 8 in-patient beds.  Our diabetes team started with one doctor, a nurse, and a dietitian, working in a 4-storey building. 

In 1992, Theptarin expanded into a full-scale hospital with 80 in-patient beds in an 11-storey building.  We now have complete facilities ready to provide comprehensive care including 24-hour emergency service, operating theaters, labor rooms, hemodialysis units, and dental units.  Our medical team has grown tremendously to include specialists in all areas.  The diabetes team has also grown many-fold.  We have recruited internists and endocrinologists into our team, and together they provide in-house training to diabetes educators and dietitians, as the latter two professions are relatively unknown here and there is no formal training in Thailand.   

This expansion enabled us to serve our clients and the surrounding community with more comprehensive and better care.  Facilities and medical equipment provide clients with more comfort and convenience, and give physicians information that is more detailed and accuracy, enabling more timely diagnosis and more treatment options.

Theptarin closely follows medical developments and has pioneered a number of services in Thailand.  The first peripheral distal bypass surgery in Thailand was performed by our diabetes team in 1993.  We brought to medical community’s and public’s attention to the importance of foot care, and opened Thailand’s first “Foot Clinic” in 1999.  We introduced to diabetes care in Thailand several wound care techniques and technology such as hyperbaric medicine, felted-foam dressing, total-contact cast, and protective footwear.  For treating thyroid disorders, Theptarin is the first private hospital in Thailand to perform fine needle aspiration to assist in diagnosis and alcohol injection for treatment.

Education
Theptarin believes that education is a very important success key to best healthcare service.  Twenty years ago, education was not seen by patients as necessary but rather as a waste of time and money.  Theptarin went against the mainstream and forced our patients to learn about diabetes and self-care.  At the beginning, all education was given individually, as we were unable to convince patients to come for group teaching.  It took 6 years before we could launch our first diabetes class.

It is delightful to see many of our today’s patients request educational service and become very knowledgeable.  This is a driving force for our staff to keep themselves updated and ahead of our clients.

Research
Theptarin believes that research is vital in order to give the best service.  We must keep ourselves up-to-date.  We constantly follow research findings and medical development, and seek for opportunities to apply the knowledge to our service.  For internal knowledge sharing, our medical staffs meet regularly for interesting case discussions and for journal club activities.  Often staffs from medical schools participate in our academic meetings.

With a large number of diabetes and thyroid patients in hand, Theptarin participates in several national studies on such topics related to these disorders.  Theptarin is the only institution that is not a medical school to have hosted the Thailand’s Endocrine Interhospital Conference.

Social Responsibility
Our goal is not only to serve our clients, but also the Thai population at large.  We believe that the best way to expand our service throughout the country is to work on personnel and organizational development, and so that is where we allocate much of our resources and energy.

We took 20 years in building and strengthening our own diabetes team.  Today, the team is strong and recognized throughout Thailand and neighboring countries.  We are now ready to share our experience and support others to build their teams.  When the number of strong diabetes teams multiply, the number of patients who will receive the type of care Theptarin team provides will multiply by a much larger magnitude.

Assisting others in personnel training not only benefits others, but also forces the Theptarin team to continuously move forward.  Our staffs are often invited to speak at various training courses, and many of us are adjunct lecturers at several universities.  We have organized a number of curriculums to train government personnel on diabetes care and behavior modification.  We worked with several pharmaceutical and medical device companies in training diabetes educators and nutrition trainings.  A large number of nutrition, pharmacy, medical technology, and physical therapy students complete their internship at Theptarin. 

The scope of our work on personnel training is beyond Thailand as a number of Indonesian endocrinologists spent their 1-month rotations with us and Vietnamese physicians were here for dietetics training.

The above are only examples of personnel training work done by Theptarin’s team.  In order to drive and develop diabetes teamwork throughout the country, it is very important that medical professionals keep networking.  Thus, in 1998, Dr.Himathongkam founded the Thai Society of Diabetes Educators to draw together all professions working with diabetes patients.

After two decades of “service, education, research, and social responsibility” under Dr.Thep Himathongkam’s vision and leadership, Theptarin is now ready to move on. We are moving towards implementing the “quality of life and disease prevention” concept in our new 20-storey Lifestyle Building.  The building is equipped with several services that will help form true health and wellness services such as exercise and swimming pool facilities, spa, Weight Management Clinic, function halls for trainings and activities, and apartment for attendants.  A hospital will no longer be a place where people come to receive treatment, but a place where they come to stay healthy.