Smart medical cards for state officials take flak
Network questions ability to end ‘abuses’
A civic network has questioned the practicality of a proposal to issue smart cards to state officials to gain access to medical services, saying a number of problems have yet to be ironed out.
The network aimed at reforming medical welfare for civil servants posed nine questions to the Comptroller-General’s Department (CGD) yesterday regarding how well the cards would work in rooting out abuses of medical services by state officials.
The network, headed by former public health minister Mongkol Na Songkhla, outlined the questions in a petition it presented to the department chief.
Dr Mongkol said previous queries on this issue have been met with vague or confusing replies.
The CGD said the cabinet decided it would issue the cards from Oct 1 to make it easier for officials to use medical services at state-run hospitals, while curbing irregularities.
Officials often have to pay for treatment and get reimbursed later. Some have allegedly been found to go on shopping sprees for medication from various hospitals, selling whatever is surplus to their personal requirements for profit.
Critics say the medical welfare system is ill-equipped to tackle the problem.
In response, the cabinet has approved a budget of 124 million baht to distribute smart cards to 4.5 million state officials. These can keep track of their medical prescriptions and the medical services used.
CGD chief Suthirat Rattanachote told the network earlier the cards would cut out the red tape that causes delays in the delivery of the medical services.
They will also enable the department to accurately examine how state hospitals spend the funds allocated to cover officials’ medical expenses, Ms Suthirat said.
Dr Mongkol said yesterday the network still has questions about how the 124-million-baht budget was calculated. He said it came to his attention the budget was originally set at 70 million baht less than that amount.
He said the department owed the public an explanation as to how the smart-card budget would be spent.
However, the cards may not end the delays in settling payments for medical treatment, he said.
Dr Mongkol cited the example of state officials in a so-called Diagnosis-Related Group — a way of classifying inpatient stays for the purposes of payment — who must still wait until all treatment is concluded before the expenses are calculated. He said the smart card system may place an extra burden on hospital staff if they have to run online checks to make sure users are eligible to access medical services. Moreover, the cards may not ease the confusion surrounding which medical insurance scheme should be applied first, he said.
For example, in the case of a state official who is injured in a car accident and who has third-party insurance, the cards are not governed by criteria that spells out clearly whether they should receive treatment under the state medical welfare scheme or third-party insurance, he added.