Thailand has lost one of its most quietly influential nation-builders with the passing of Dr Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, founder of Bangkok Airways and Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, who died aged 93.
There was nothing especially flamboyant about Dr Prasert’s public persona. That, perhaps, was the point. While others sought headlines, he built institutions, two of them, in fact, that would come to define Thailand’s standing in both regional aviation and private healthcare.
According to BDMS, he passed away on Tuesday following treatment for an undisclosed illness. Funeral rites will be held at Wat Thepsirin, a fittingly traditional setting for a man whose achievements were substantial but rarely overstated.
Born in Bangkok in 1933, Dr Prasert’s early education at Assumption College and Triam Udom Suksa paved the way to medical studies at Chulalongkorn University. Surgery was his first calling, though it would soon become clear that his ambitions extended beyond the operating theatre.
In 1972, he founded Bangkok Hospital, laying the groundwork for what would evolve into BDMS today, one of Asia’s largest private healthcare networks. Under his stewardship, Thailand developed a reputation not merely for affordable care, but for clinical standards that attracted international patients in growing numbers. Medical tourism, now a familiar phrase, owes him more than a passing nod.
If healthcare was his foundation, aviation was his masterstroke. Through Bangkok Airways, Dr Prasert adopted a model that raised a few eyebrows at the time: owning both airline and airport infrastructure. In hindsight, it looks less like a gamble and more like foresight.
Koh Samui, now a staple of global leisure itineraries, was once a relative unknown. By developing Samui Airport and linking it to regional routes, Bangkok Airways effectively placed the island on the map. It is the sort of strategic thinking that reshapes destinations rather than merely serving them.
Colleagues frequently described Dr Prasert as disciplined, pragmatic and quietly ambitious, traits that rarely generate headlines but tend to produce results. His influence extended well beyond boardrooms, helping position Thailand as both a healthcare hub and a tourism powerhouse.
There is a certain irony that a man who connected people so effectively will now be remembered for the institutions he leaves behind. Yet, in many ways, that is legacy in its most durable form.
Dr Prasert is survived by his family and, more broadly, by an industry that continues to benefit from his steady, thoughtful vision.
by Andrew J Wood and edited by Supaporn Pholrach – (c) 2026.
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About the Author.
Andrew J. Wood has spent a lifetime in travel, though he’d likely tell you it simply unfolded that way. Born in Yorkshire and trained in Edinburgh, he began in London before heading overseas, first to Hilton Paris, then further afield.
Thailand became home in 1991 when he joined the Shangri-La in Bangkok. What followed was a long run through the upper floors of hospitality, with senior roles across well-known hotel groups and, eventually, general manager posts where the responsibility sat squarely on his shoulders.
Alongside it all, Skål ran, where he gave more time than most, rising through the ranks and earning its highest honours.
These days, Andrew writes and lectures, sharing a lifetime’s worth of experience with a steady voice, thoughtful, measured, and grounded in the realities of the trade.
