Stateless people to get access to free healthcare too
The National Health Security Office is to extend the state's healthcare system to about 700,000 stateless people who have been left out of the scheme since it began several years ago.
The NHSO's board yesterday decided to include the group in the healthcare scheme, which now covers about 48 million Thais. "The reality is that some families are covered and some are not even though they live in the same community," said Public Health Minister Dr Mongkol na Songkhla, who chaired yesterday's board meeting. "In a vaccination programme, for example, health workers have been forced to skip the families not covered by the health scheme, yet when there is an outbreak [of disease], it spreads unconditionally," he said. The 700,000 people were about half of the "marginalised" population of about 1.4 million waiting for citizenship, Mongkol said. To accommodate the additional number of people under the universal health scheme, previously known as the Bt30 scheme, the board would have to seek additional funds before submitting the proposal for final approval to the Cabinet next month. One possible source could come from higher taxes on "sin products" such as cigarettes and alcohol, Mongkol said. Prominent economist Ammar Siamwalla would be looking into it, he said. In addition to including the stateless people in the healthcare scheme, the board also decided to set aside about Bt480 million to improve emergency medical services to reduce deaths and disabilities caused by difficulties in getting patients to hospital, especially in rural areas. The NHSO would handle updating emergency medical services with the cooperation of local administrations.
Arthit Khwankhom The Nation
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