Activists call for better free healthcare for the poor
Fifteen health insurance coordinating centres and a network of activists from 23 provinces have urged the government to continue to provide cheap or free access to medical care for all Thais.
Concern among low-income people that the Bt30 scheme would be temporarily cancelled by the new government spurred the alliance to urge the government to continue the policy. The alliance has also urged groups of doctors in some areas to publicly oppose the abolition of the health scheme."Unequal decentralisation of doctors to rural hospitals is one weakness in the Bt30-scheme and the relevant organisations need to solve this problem. Currently, 44.5 per cent of obstetricians work in Bangkok and many doctors choose to work in other cities, leaving medical services in rural areas less efficient," explained Kittipan Kanjina from one of the public health insurance coordinating centres. "The excessive burden on many healthcare employees is another factor causing them to choose better-paying work," said Sureerat Treemankra from a coordinating centre. "The old system of patronage between doctors and the general public has faded away. This has caused some groups of doctors to show their opposition to the continuation of the Bt30 scheme," he added. The alliance has also made many proposals to the new government aimed at improving the efficiency of the health scheme based on the philosophy that access to healthcare is a basic right of all citizens. Among the group's proposed measures are two that have already been adopted as policies of the new government: the development of a free healthcare service for everyone without the need to pay B30 per visit; and the use of the individual's ID card instead of issuing gold cards to reduce expenses. The alliance has also proposed: lReasonable budget allocations to each area based on population lSufficient funding of the scheme to reduce the burden of service providers' coverage of patients with chronic renal failure and chronic mental diseases, as well as drug addicts lMaintaining consistency of service lIntegration of road accident insurance with the National Health Security Fund lAllocation of taxes collected from imported chemicals, unnecessary goods, property confiscation, inheritance, and land sales to support the scheme. The alliance also proposed establishing two funds to tackle any possible budget shortage faced by the service provider including a service compensation fund and a medical service fund for displaced and ethnic citizens. Atsadaporn Kamthai Citylife Chiang Mai
|
