UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE
Hospitals get flexibility on use of NHSO funds
Pratch Rujivanarom,
Anapat Deechuay
The Nation

Prayut says no plan to scrap universal healthcare; prateep is new nhso chief

BANGKOK: -- Hospitals will be able to cover their electricity and repair costs using money from the universal healthcare scheme, Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin said yesterday.

"A hospital can use the budget earmarked for depreciation to repair the hospital's infrastructure, for example," Rajata said.

He said hospitals could spend the per-head subsidy on the expenses of running the facilities, as that would affect neither the fund's objective nor the beneficiaries.

He said the committee on legal interpretation to clarify the management of the National Health Security Office (NHSO), the committee on examination of depreciation spending, and the committee on inspection of benefits from medicine and medical equipment purchasing concluded that hospitals are free to use the NHSO per-head subsidy without breaching the fund objective.

For more than a decade, the NHSO has strictly managed the scheme and its fund, with participating hospitals hardly having any say on how to manage the budget.

Lately, the NHSO's two-time secretary-general Winai Sawasdivorn was transferred out of his post. He had previously been at odds with Dr Narong Sahametapat, who has been moved to the Office of the Prime Minister, though he still retains his post as permanent secretary for Public Health, over the management of the universal healthcare scheme as well as its fund.

Yesterday, it was announced that Dr Prateep Thanakijcharoen would serve as the acting NHSO secretary-general.

Commenting on allowing fund spending, Dr Athaporn Limpanyalerd, an NHSO spokesman, said hospitals would benefit from the latest interpretation of the use of the universal healthcare scheme's flat-rate subsidy.

Athaporn also said patients would not be negatively affected by this decision. On the contrary, they will have a chance to receive better medical care, as the hospitals could manage their operations better.

In a related development, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha yesterday dismissed speculation on the possibility of his government putting an end to the universal healthcare scheme.

"No, I am not going to scrap it," the prime minister said.

Several doctors have lately suggested that the scheme must be scrapped or else the country will succumb under the weight of the scheme's huge financial burden. This year, the programme is expected to consume about Bt120 billion.

Prayut yesterday reckoned that the government had to spend a huge amount of money in many areas and it needed to be cautious about spending.

"Given that public-health work is important, the government has never thought of ending the universal healthcare scheme," he said.

Prayut said his government only hoped to develop the delivery of medical services further and boost people's access to public healthcare.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Hospitals-get-flexibility-on-use-of-NHSO-funds-30263911.html


-- The Nation 2015-07-07

In every country of the world, the easiest fund to raid has always been maintenance.

Let the feeding frenzy commence!!