Govt to foot health bill for minorities

Published: 1/03/2010 at 12:00 AM
Bangkok Post Newspaper section: News

The National Health Security Office will ask the cabinet to endorse a healthcare budget worth 472 million baht to help stateless people and relieve the financial burden on border hospitals.

The money will go into extending access to medical treatment for 457,409 ethnic minority people, long-term migrants, and people born on Thai soil but still waiting for verification of their citizenship, said Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanavisit, after chairing the NHSO board meeting last Thursday.

It is worth an average of 2,067 baht a patient a year.

A total of 172 state hospitals treat people living in 15 provinces along the Thai-Burmese border. Last year, the taxpayer spent 468 million baht on treating the stateless.

"Having a specific healthcare fund for the stateless and ethnic minorities would help reduce the burden among hospitals already in debt," Mr Jurin said.

Health staff would be able to provide medical services to both Thais and ethnic minorities in border areas, and control infectious diseases which could harm national security if allowed to spread.

Tribal people often sought treatment for diseases such as diarrhoea, malaria, tuberculosis, dengue and HIV/Aids. These diseases could pass on to Thais living along the border if they were not properly controlled.

The Public Health Ministry last week backed a 200 million baht emergency fund to alleviate the burden on border hospitals treating stateless people. Some have taken on debt to raise money to treat stateless people, while they wait for help from the state.

The cabinet was likely to approve the 472 million baht budget in coming weeks. The public health minister expected the NHSO to be able to distribute the funds to needy hospitals from April 1 onwards.

The agency, which also oversees the universal healthcare scheme for Thais, has sought cabinet approval for the budget several times.

But the plan was rejected because of concerns that these people would pose a threat to national security.

Panthip Kanjanajittra Saisunthorn, an academic from Thammasat University's faculty of law, applauded the government's steps to improve health care for stateless people.