A conference at city hall on Wednesday announced the expected release of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Public Services of Chon-Buri and the various hospitals in the area.

Pattaya, the 11th of November 2009 [PDN]: At a packed conference Deputy Mayor Mr Wirawat Khakhay announced that the local government was preparing a MOU between the Public Services Department and the various public medical institutions of Pattaya. The Institutions that sent representatives to the conference included; The Sawang Boriboon Foundation, Banglamung Hospital, Pattaya Memorial Hospital and the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital.

The MOU’s contents state that all accident victims will receive free access and medical treatment at all public hospitals in the Pattaya area. The MOU will be presented to the public for signing as of the 22nd of December, on the 4th floor of the Pattaya City Hall, North Pattaya.

At the end of the conference is was announced that representatives from the 33 zones in Pattaya will be invited to attend on the 22nd of December to announce to the public the official information contained within this important Memorandum of Understanding.

Source:

http://pattayadailynews.com

Wonderful news. Congratulations to the hospitals and all those concerned.

Wonderful news. Congratulations to the hospitals and all those concerned.

The devil will be in the detail, for sure. For instance:

1. Does it apply equally to wealthy foreign tourists and to impecunious Thais?

2. What if someone has insurance. Will that be disregarded and the treatment still be free?

3. Do "talking wounded" get a choice where they will be treated?

4. Will the hospitals have a quota sytem in place? Otherwise if everyone elects to go to Bangkok Pattaya the hospital would soon go bust I suspect

5. Will there be a costs threshold above which wealthy injured have to pay, or can someone stay on a life support unit in a vegetative state at Bangkok Pattaya for years with nobody minding about the cost?

There are a lot of considerations to take into account, but as a piece of pre-high season, cost-nothing-for-the-City news, yeah, it looks great (on non-legally binding MOU paper).

The MOU’s contents state that all accident victims will receive free access and medical treatment at all public hospitals in the Pattaya area.

I wonder if something got lost in the tranlsation?

I could see an agreement where "all accident victims will receive free access to medical treatment...," meaning they will be treated without a prior guarantee to pay, but it seems doubful that "all accident victims will receive free access and medical treatment...," which implies all the care needed (e.g. doctor fees, OR costs, medicine, nursing, meals) would be gratis.