The tele-interpreter service at the Bangkok Hospital Medical Center, Thailand.

Thailand has become one of the most famous medical hub countries, which is reflected in the increasing number of international patients visiting the Bangkok Hospital Medical Center (BMC). In response, the Interpreter Department at BMC has been established to provide translation for non-English speaking patients. Overtime the Interpreter Department frequently reaches maximum capacity when providing prompt services on demand, resulting in long waiting times and delayed medical treatment. BMC has foreseen the necessity to implement a tele-interpreter system via videoconferencing technology to provide effective translations in the medical environment where delay is usually not tolerated. Tele-interpretation allows doctors to simply select a language icon on their Wi-Fi IP telephone to instantly connect to an interpreter. After implementation in 2oo9, the overall customer satisfaction index for the Interpreter Department increased from 64.5% in Quarter 1 to 85.5% in Quarter 3 of 2011. The tele-interpretation system is currently the closest approximation to the face-to-face interpretation method.