Kidney club seeks more support from private hospitals

Auechart is a member of the NHSO board and also chairs the Private Hospital Association of Thailand.

The club also will urge the Medical Council to look into the ethics of Auechart; Dr Chalerm Harnpanich, the secretary-general of the hospital association; and Dr Paiboon Eksangsri, who also issued a letter recommending that private hospitals not sign up with NHSO, Subin added.

Last year, the NHSO launched a scheme under which hospitals are given a Bt1,000 subsidy, while patients pay Bt500 for haemodialysis therapy. On September 2, the NHSO issued letters inviting private hospitals to sign up for the scheme, which kicks off on October 1.

Auechart said, under the scheme, most private hospitals would end up having to shoulder the financial burden themselves, and if the price of the treatment was reduced to Bt1,500 from Bt1,900, it would affect the quality of services and ultimately harm the patients. He said the NHSO reimbursement of Bt1,500 was even lower than the amount offered under the medical benefit schemes for civil servants.

Subin said the scheme was necessary because the 6,500 kidney patients who had registered with the universal health care scheme were stuck with spending up to Bt26,000 per month on medication. So far, only 66 private hospitals nationwide have signed up with the NHSO, of which 44 have agreed to provide the full service, while 22 will only offer the cheaper rate for three months. He said if no other private hospitals signed the contract, patients' access to treatment would be greatly affected.

Subin said haemodialysis therapy only cost about Bt1,100 per session - Bt600 for the device and Bt500 for the service - and that the quality of treatment, whether it is for less or more money, stayed the same, so there was no reason for private hospitals to seek more than the Bt1,500 offered by the NHSO.

"I know that some private hospitals are good for patients, but some of them take advantage of patients too," he said, adding that he believed the Private Hospital Association was siding with private hospitals to swindle the NHSO.

Meanwhile, president of the Medical Council, Somsak Lohlekha, said Auechart had not broken any regulations because he was only making recommendations and that the final decision lay with the private hospitals.

However, he added that the NHSO was wrong in pressuring private hospitals to reduce the price of haemodialysis therapy, which actually costs about Bt2,000.