"Under the new system, a fund will be established to swiftly and fairly compensate the victims," the department's director general Dr Supachai Kunarattanapreuk said yesterday.

Supachai said the new system would not focus on "who is at fault but on fair compensation being given quickly to the victims".

He said he believed the new system would deter patients from taking criminal and civil actions against doctors.

Supachai said the legal process was time-consuming and incurred huge costs and sometimes the patients ended up gaining nothing.

Currently the relationship between doctors and patients is often strained when patients sue doctors for medical malpractice.

Because of possible lawsuits, some small medical facilities sometimes deny immediate treatment to patients and refer them to better-equipped facilities, and this means patients do not receive crucial treatment quickly.

Supachai yesterday explained that the new compensation system would collect contributions from private and state medical facilities to establish the fund.

"The amount of contributions will depend on various factors such as the size of facilities," he said, adding that his department-appointed panel was preparing the details of the draft.

Swedish expert Carl Esperson said this type of compensation system did not reduce the quality of medical services, as had been proved in Sweden, where it had been in use since 1975.

"The main benefit is that patients can get compensation quickly," he said.

However, Esperson expressed concern that Thailand's fund for medical malpractice victims could run into "financial constraints" initially, given that the proposed draft allowed compensation "on a broad scope".