PM Prayut orders fair prices for medicines and medical services

[webfact]

PM Prayut orders fair prices for medicines and medical services

 

   

BANGKOK, 10 June 2019 (NNT) - After some private hospitals in Thailand were found to be charging their patients 16,000% higher than the recommended prices, the Ministry of Commerce has announced that it will oversee the issue to alleviate the hardships of patients. The Prime Minister, Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha, said today the World Health Organization’s (WHO) resolution is in line with the government’s policy to ensure fair prices for medicines, medical supplies, and medical services.

 

The Deputy Government Spokesman, Lt.Gen. Werachon Sukondhapatipak, added that Prime Minister Prayut had acknowledged the WHO’s recent resolution of May 28 to improve the transparency of market pricing of medicines, vaccines and other health products. The resolution encourages its member countries to clearly display the true prices of medicines and medical supplies, increase the transparency of patent information, and allow the WHO to follow up on the situation on a regular basis.

 

The Prime Minister said the WHO’s resolution has shown that the measures implemented by the government are in line with international standards. Some of the measures include a regulation requiring private hospitals to clearly display the prices of medicines. Private hospitals are also required to provide cost estimates to patients before providing medical services. In addition, subcommittees have been set up in Bangkok and other provinces to receive complaints about unusually expensive treatments.

 

The Prime Minister has called on all sectors to ensure that every citizen has access to healthcare services fairly and efficiently. However, studies found that some hospitals were marking up their drugs and treatments by 300 to 16,000%. The Ministry of Commerce will call a meeting of relevant agencies to address the issue,

 

-- © Copyright nnt 2019-06-10

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[Chang_paarp]

Has anyone explained that he no longer has use of Art 44 to make his pronouncements have any teeth?

[Oziex1]

Expect this to be as effective as controlling the Lottery prices.

[Somtamnication]

Hot doggie! The man is on the ball!!!

[steven100]

Good job Khun Prayuth .... but the farangs still bitch & moan about nothin .... lol

[colinneil]

4 minutes ago, steven100 said:

Good job Khun Prayuth .... but the farangs still bitch & moan about nothin .... lol

Disagree Steven, plenty here for us to moan about, drivers, police, some government employees, and last but not least..... Your pal.

[Destiny1990]

Hospitals need publish their pricelist of everything online and Bi-lingual.

[RotMahKid]

This will not help, you can't destroy greed in Thailand, it's in their genes.

[Misterwhisper]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

some private hospitals in Thailand were found to be charging their patients 16,000% higher than the recommended prices

A paracetamol tablet that would usually cost 1 baht was charged at 16,000 baht?

A minor operation that would normally cost 1,000 baht was invoiced at 160,000 baht?

 

I know that gross overcharging is routinely practiced at many private hospitals... but 16,000 percent??? I somehow doubt that.

[Thechook]

Soldiers give orders.  Politicians advise and make recommendations 

[BuckBee]

I hope Buck Banana order more effective than his previous order on lottery price fairness, taxi taking customers and using meter etc etc .

[the guest]

Strange, he can order other institutions to reduce high prices they are charging, but not the duty-free shops aimed primarily at tourists which are excessive ! Double standards IMHO !

[legend49]

He also ordered clean air in Chiang Mai sometime ago, waiting?????????????????????????????????????

[yellowboat]

16 hours ago, steven100 said:

Good job Khun Prayuth .... but the farangs still bitch & moan about nothin .... lol

Thais too.   You single out farangs Steven, but your fellow Thais say the same things.   They are smart like you, but they chose to actually say the   and do the right thing.  You are perpetuating xenophobia which is wrong AND shameful . 

[hotchilli]

The private hospitals are a private business, thus needing to make profits, patient care is secondary.

As are the health care insurance scams, just had a quote from AIA of Thailand, basic in/out patient cover would be 36,000 baht per year for age 60.

At age 61 it goes up to 45,00 per year.. but get this:

most of the payments for daily room, doctors services, anesthetists, etc etc are capped at a level... you have to pay the extra if above.

Surgery is capped at 36,000 baht (one operation per year)

if it's above 36,000 you pay the balance!!!!

All they do is give you your premium back.... what the hell are the covering?

[no deal]

17 hours ago, steven100 said:

Good job Khun Prayuth .... but the farangs still bitch & moan about nothin .... lol

the farangs bitch about everything never happy!

[blackcab]

A great start would be if the government published every recommend price on a website.

[bronzedude]

Ha,Ha,Ha. Regulations-Smeg illations, Businesses in Thailand only look at regulations as something to consider, much like driving rules. But like Thai drivers going to wrong way or riding their motorbikes on the footpaths, consideration finished, it's time to do whatever they please. You get the point. Still waiting on that clean air.

[Vacuum]

2 hours ago, legend49 said:

He also ordered clean air in Chiang Mai sometime ago, waiting?????????????????????????????????????

Well, the skies are crystal clear at the moment and have been so for some time now.

[Eric Loh]

17 hours ago, steven100 said:

Good job Khun Prayuth .... but the farangs still bitch & moan about nothin .... lol

Don't disagree that it's a step in the right direction but the job is still not done. Just acknowledging WHO's resolution is lip service. New laws to forcefully implement the resolution and sufficient deterrents are required. That ball on Prayut's court before we can give him any accolade. 

[sammieuk1]

I'm sure he means prices in a General hospital ????

[kevin612]

Medical is really expensive in Thailand 

[Vacuum]

Doesn't all Thais have free (30baht) medical services and medicine? Those who want ac and a single room have insurances.

[sfokevin]

Will this order cover both citizens & foreigners... Or just citizens?...

[Borzandy]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

PM Prayut orders fair prices for medicines and medical services

fair prices in Thailand should be free.

[nahkit]

38 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

Doesn't all Thais have free (30baht) medical services and medicine? Those who want ac and a single room have insurances.

In practical terms no, they don't.

 

My daughter needs an operation to check a potentially cancerous growth. The government hospital told her the waiting list was over a year long but if she was willing to pay over 40k baht she could get it done in 6 months. If she upped the payment to 65k baht, she could pick whatever day she wanted.

 

That's the reality of the 30 baht scheme. 

[Mavideol]

19 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Hospitals need publish their pricelist of everything online and Bi-lingual.

good luck with that....

[Mavideol]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

PM Prayut orders fair prices for medicines and medical services

can anyone please explain what fair prices mean and are based on what standards

[Mavideol]

1 hour ago, Vacuum said:

Well, the skies are crystal clear at the moment and have been so for some time now.

did you see the Chinese drones flying over

[Mavideol]

14 minutes ago, nahkit said:

In practical terms no, they don't.

 

My daughter needs an operation to check a potentially cancerous growth. The government hospital told her the waiting list was over a year long but if she was willing to pay over 40k baht she could get it done in 6 months. If she upped the payment to 65k baht, she could pick whatever day she wanted.

 

That's the reality of the 30 baht scheme. 

will this change with Cha Cha fair price ??? the so called Thai fairness