nearby beach and relax, while their colleagues on the other side of the world begin their morning shift. Today, MediCall also take the calls in the night hours in Thai time. They get compensated for two hours for each night time working. It means the nurses can work 32 hours a week.They work three days and have four days for off.
MediCall reduces the load of medical system in Sweden When a Swede calls the healthcare hotline “1177” their call will likely be answered by a nurse in Thailand. Every region in Sweden has their own way to handle medical advice service or “on-call GP”, and the biggest regions Stockholm, Sörmland, and Värmland use private companies for giving their citizens medical counseling. MedHelp is the biggest private medical advice service company in Europe, and MediCall is their subcontractor.Today they produce 25% of MedHelps total production, or in other words: during weekends every second call ends up in Hua Hin. “In the nights we take care of 60% of all calls to MedHelp,” says Dr. Birger Rexed. MediCall gives Swedish people advice to handle a situation where medical knowledge is needed. “Sometimes a problem doesn’t require a visit, but can simply be solved by following some instructions. 60% of all who calls us are able to
solve the problem they call for help to. That way we reduce the load for the medical system in Sweden,” Dr. Birger Rexed says. Swedes should not worry about where their calls end up – the quality is exactly the same. Medicall requires formally qualified nurses with minimum 5 years of working experience. They have a recruitment service who calls references and check up on CV’s. Furthermore, they always make sure of having extra nurses. “Our company is meant to consist of 40 nurses, but we make sure we are 42,” CEO Karina Rexed says. They always make sure to have extra backup for everything. “We are very secured. When your work is about providing help for people in need you always have to make sure of everything works. We have five direct internet lines to Sweden to make sure to always have connection to overseas,” she adds.
Why not do permanent holiday for work? When the company was established it consisted of nine nurses from MedHelp. “We were happily surprised. We did not think there would be so many applicants when we started searching for new staff,” CEO Karina Rexed says. MediCall was a success. They had to create a
recruitment service to get an overview. Today, 42 nurses work for them in Hua Hin. They start working on a 6-month contract. After, it’s up to the nurses themselves and MediCall what happens next. It’s not unusual the nurses decide to extend their work in Thailand. “Nine decided to stay here forever,” Karina Rexed tells. The nurses consist of many types: families, “nurse couples” where both are working in MediCall, some are single and some rejects retirement and want to make the best out of their golden years. Regardless of their background, age and gender, the nurses become more like a family than just work colleagues. “We see how these people bond with each other. They organize tours in their spare time, arrange events and take good care of each other. After the first four months they actually start to get a little depressed when realizing their 6-month stay soon is over. Most of them want to extend their contract,” she says. While night time working in Sweden is a reason to quit, it’s becoming a reason to stay in Thailand. MediCall is growing, and so are the ideas of staying permanently in Hua Hin for work. Even if the contract does not include Swedish holidays, the nurses don’t mind. “When we finish work, we have holiday. So actually, we have holiday everyday here”, the nurses say. December 2015 • ScandAsia.Thailand 25