The Medical Council has called on the government to expand the no-fault compensation fund to cover patients under the Social Security Fund or the Civil Servants Medical Benefits Scheme.
Dr Prasopsri Ung-thavorn, vice president of the Medical Council, said yesterday that the no-fault fund now applies only to patients registered with the National Health Security Fund's universal healthcare scheme.
As the government has not yet come up with a resolution for the draft medical malpractice victim protection bill, the Medical Council is proposing that the government extend Article 41 of the National Health Security Act to include members of all the three public healthcare schemes.
The Cabinet should approve a resolution to ask the Social Security Fund and the Comptroller-General's Department to provide an additional budget for the National Health Security Office so it could serve patients under the three healthcare schemes.
The government should also raise the compensation ceiling from Bt200,000 per case to a higher amount, he said.
Dr Prachumporn Boonjaroen, a vice chairman of the Federation of Doctors at State General and Provincial-level Hospitals, said about 90 of the hospitals across the country will stage a rally tomorrow and participants would dress in black to protest against the draft bill for medical malpractice victim protection.
Preeyanant Lorsermwattana, head of the medical malpractice victims' network, said she insists on the government and the House of Representatives not withdrawing this bill from the council's consideration. It would help the Medical Council correct its errors and let the public know the real figures that victims should receive from the no-fault fund.
Dr Winai Sawasdivorn, secretary-general of the National Health Security Office, said the NHSO has spent about Bt200 million from the fund to compensate 2,264 victims from 2003-2009.
The NHSO's board had initially advised the office to allocate about Bt1 billion per year to compensate victims under the universal healthcare scheme. But the board later revised the budget to only Bt100 million per year after learning that the payout was not as much as expected.
Last year alone, the NHSO dispensed Bt72 million to help victims but Winai expects that figure to increase in two years. However, he said he is now waiting to see the government's response to amending Article 41.
Some of the no-fault fund was also earmarked to promote activities that improve the doctor-patient relationship, he added.