Hospital lauded for community care
Ubolratana Hospital in Khon Kaen is a model for community healthcare where locals are encouraged to take a more participatory role in hospital affairs, says Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn.
The facility is part of the Pracharat hospital scheme, a people-state partnership project supported by the ministry. Ubolratana Hospital is serving as a pilot project under the scheme.
Dr Piyasakol said the ministry is ready to support other hospitals as part of the programme. The late King’s sufficiency economy theory, which laid the foundation for growing from the inside and leaving no one behind will be adopted, he said, adding such facilities would become much more than just hospitals.
Accordingly, locals would assume a sense of ownership of their own hospitals, and would also participate in various kinds of development activities, the minister said, adding such a scheme would be reformed for healthcare services at the district level. The facilities would pool resources from people in all sectors, Dr Piyasakol said.
He said Ubolratana Hospital is contributing favourable results already, and added that both the running of the hospital and its budget management have become more efficient.
People have more say in hospital affairs as they are asked to donate three baht a day or 1,000 baht a year to the hospital, the minister noted. These people are then able to use individual rooms for their treatment without charge, he added.
The hospital also coordinates with private firms to find work for the disabled and invites them to carry out corporate social responsibility campaigns along with district health committees and primary care clusters, he said.
This Pracharath hospital scheme will be implemented in 38 community hospitals in its first phase between July and September. In the second phase, from October to September next year, every province will have this kind of hospital in at least one district. In the third stage, from October next year to September 2019, all community hospitals will be brought under the scheme.
According to Dr Piyasakol, community hospitals play a vital role in the healthcare service system at the district level, especially in seamlessly transferring critically ill patients to ordinary hospitals.
They can also receive patients who are in recovery and help with their rehabilitation, particularly with three key illnesses — stroke, brain injury and axial spine injury, he said. The facilities are also likely to help ease overcrowding in major hospitals.
Meanwhile, family care teams from community hospitals can also help care for patients at home, for example by providing physical therapy and teaching relatives how to take care of them, he noted.