Call for delay to health bill

The cabinet is being asked to postpone deliberation of controversial amendments to the national health security law until all parties concerned give their input and a common agreement is reached.

Kannikar Kijitwatchakul, a member of the National Health Security Office (NHSO) board, said she and three other board members submitted a petition to the cabinet calling for the bill to be suspended due to inadequate public input and conflicting opinions.

The three others are Saree Ongsomwang, Suntaree Hatthi and Yupadee Sirisinsuk. The four members represent the civic sector on the NHSO board.

She said the amendments, if passed, would undermine the current healthcare management system which has grown over the past 15 years to better respond to public needs.

She was referring to proposed amendments being prepared by the Public Health Ministry seeking to tackle various issues the NHSO has faced in making the Universal Healthcare Coverage (UC) scheme more sustainable.

The UC scheme, or the “30-baht gold card”, was initiated under the 2002 National Health Security Act for those who are neither private sector nor government employees, to ensure they have access to healthcare and government health subsidies.

However, the proposed revision to the legislation is widely seen by critics as a Public Health Ministry attempt to regain control of the budget and lost power over the scheme. The NHSO oversees an annual budget of 170 billion baht for staterun hospitals.

The Public Health Ministry is expected to forward the draft amendment to the cabinet for consideration soon. Once approved the draft will be submitted to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA).

According to Ms Kannikar, the proposed amendments are likely to adversely affect the public health care system because it seeks to transfer power from the NHSO to the Public Health Ministry.

The proposed amendments include a change in the way NHSO salaries are managed and an end to NHSO control over medical procurement at all state hospitals. She said the NHSO has saved up to 50 billion baht in the past decade.