Thai PBS World
Healthcare reform takes centre stage in Thailand’s election campaign
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Healthcare experts are scrutinising parties’ campaign pledges for the February 8 general election to assess whether they will help resolve – or further aggravate – the crisis gripping Thailand’s public healthcare system.
Key facts
- Dr Pawinee Iamchan, president of the Thailand Regional and General Hospital Society and director of Saraburi Hospital, said only 20% of doctors in the public healthcare system were fully committed to their jobs.
- Without concrete reforms, structural problems in the country’s public health system will worsen significantly over the next decade,”
- The much-touted universal healthcare scheme – which evolved from the 30-baht-per-visit scheme – allocates an annual budget of 3,856 baht per person to cover 47.15 million Thais.
- The social security scheme has 4,900 baht per head to cover just over 12 million people
Summary
“Without concrete reforms, structural problems in the country’s public health system will worsen significantly over the next decade,” Dr Praphon Tangsrikiatkun, chair of a Senate committee on public health, warned recently.
He urged policymakers to urgently respond to Thailand’s rapidly ageing society by expanding their focus from immediate to long-term care. The country’s elderly population is growing quickly, bringing a bigger caseload of chronic and complex diseases, as well as rising numbers of dependent seniors, he said.