A group of doctors from border hospitals yesterday called on Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit to set up a neutral committee to manage the healthcare services budget for 455,409 people waiting to prove they are Thai nationals.
The move came after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday gave the green light for the Public Health Ministry's plan to restore medical care rights to the stranded people.
These people, living in Thailand's border areas, are either waiting to prove they are Thai nationals or that they already have permission to live in the country.
They lost their right to medical care when the Universal Healthcare Act was passed, which stated that only Thai nationals were entitled to the universal healthcare scheme.
The Cabinet has instructed the Public Health Ministry's permanent secretary office to manage the Bt 472-million budget to provide healthcare for these people. The ministry will distribute this budget to 172 hospitals in 15 provinces along the borders.
"We were afraid the Public Health Ministry [alone] could not provide a budget response to the problem," Dr Vorawit Tantiwattanasab of Umphang Hospital in Tak province said.
"We need a neutral committee comprising the border doctors' network, the rural doctors' network, the Thailand Indigenous Peoples' Network, and the Public Health Ministry," said Vorawit who led the group.
Previously, he said, he had asked the National Health Security Office (NHSO) to be the agency providing the budget for hospitals along the border. The NHSO had regulations and a clear system to manage the budget, which differed from that of the Public Health Ministry.
He also asked the Public Health Ministry to use local area information to assist in distributing the budget, a process which must be transparently managed, and to formally advise hospitals across the country on ways to implement this policy to provide healthcare for those waiting to prove their Thai nationality.
He said the Cabinet resolution was a first step to help them access healthcare services.
However, illegal migrant workers were still missing out as they could not get access to healthcare services and were a financial burden for hospitals along the country's borders, he added.
