In a social setting, I was told by a Thai doctor who works at a private hospital that the so-called “30 Baht” medical plan for Thais doesn’t cover MRIs for patients with known or suspected cases of cancer and that the plan only covers old generation chemo drugs because they are cheaper.  He gave specific examples of limitations of the plan as being that since the only chemo drug available in Thailand that is applicable to brain cancer is Temozolomide, which is wildly expensive, that the only treatment offered under the 30 baht plan for patients with a brain tumor would be surgery and radiation.  And in the case of a woman having breast cancer, he claims that the plan would pay for a mastectomy but not for reconstructive surgery.

Overall he was painting a picture of the Standard Of Cancer Care under the 30 Baht plan being about on par Standard of Care in the West 50 years ago.  That doctor clearly has a vested interest in discouraging people from going to a government hospital but he isn’t our doctor, we were just speaking in generalists about the healthcare systems of different countries.  Is what he’s saying at all accurate?

Not sure about this. Saw friend today who had stage 3 stomach cancer a couple of years ago, she had surgery, radiation and chemo went into remission. She said they just found another small growth after an x ray, could have meant MRI. This is in Bkk, I was surprised at the level of care she got under the 30 baht scheme 

This information is not at all correct....or perhaps more accurately, it is an exaggeration.

 

It is true that some of the very newest drugs are not yet on the MoPH  list but most standard chemo is,   and hundreds of thousands of Thais are successfully treated every year.

 

MRIs are covered under the scheme but there is often a long wait list for which reason patients often go to private imaging centers.

Although free cancer care in Thailand is not perfect, it is still quite decent. To compare it to Western standards from 50 years ago would be a severe exaggeration.

My MIL had to pay privately for tomographic X-ray of the brain because it wasn't covered by the 30 baht scheme. Also in our local hospital, people with, say, cellulitis are not getting the most effective antibiotics, but are going outside to buy the better drugs privately.