NLA calls on Public Health Min to explain solutions for overcrowding hospitals

BANGKOK, 15 January 2016 (NNT) - The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) has called on the government to answer questions related to overcrowding at public hospitals.

The NLA meeting on January 15th asked Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsattayatorn to explain government policy on patient overcrowding and his solutions to the problem.

Dr. Piyasakol has affirmed that the government considers the issue an important priority. Short-term solutions include strengthening the potential of communities to care for their own health, setting up medical teams to perform house calls, and establishing community health centers that provide comprehensive medical services.

According to the ministry's five-year plan for 2017-2021, long-term solutions deal with ways to provide elder care for bed-ridden seniors, as Thailand shifts towards an aging society.


-- NNT 2016-01-15

Udon City hospital, Thousands there early morning, parking problems, Apart from AEU and refer from a local doctor WHY ARE THEY THERE ??

Majority have little wrong with them---some sneeze in a morning and go--some hurt a finger and go---IT IS BEDLAM.

Most towns have government doctor and nurses to deal with the people, but this obsession of going to the big hospital is a joke.

Hospital admin please note --no one should be in queues of hundreds--everyone should attend local clinics first.

So outpatients LOCAL--then referred ON....

Hospital - free of charge! Clinics - you have to pay.

Aging sick folks - nursing homes cost much money.

This one's easy! Take a look at the chasm between the private and public healthcare here. The overwhelming majority can't afford the former and must therefore submit to the latter.

Bring on those posters 'but they just turn up for head aches' and 'what? they can't pay health insurance for private care? Oh, I see I'm too late

Edited January 15, 201610 yr by dageurreotype

living for today not tomorrow , no savings no private health care , most of these elderly people would have busted their lives working dam hard, where are they supposed to go,?

if your crook / sick / go to the hospital , some help will be given no matter the wait time.

Udon City hospital, Thousands there early morning, parking problems, Apart from AEU and refer from a local doctor WHY ARE THEY THERE ??

Majority have little wrong with them---some sneeze in a morning and go--some hurt a finger and go---IT IS BEDLAM.

Most towns have government doctor and nurses to deal with the people, but this obsession of going to the big hospital is a joke.

Hospital admin please note --no one should be in queues of hundreds--everyone should attend local clinics first.

So outpatients LOCAL--then referred ON....

are you a doctor ? " some sneeze in the morning and go-- some hurt a finger and go" better not to diagnoise ,

Most employees have medical insurance, and instantly think of going to the hospital for the mildest of complaints. Because it's ostensibly free.

My Thai friend had a sore throat. Off to the hospital B3,000 for a doctor to say 'you have a sore throat'.

If she had gone to the local pharmacy she'd have to pay for medications.

Another of the many contradictions of Thai thinking. There's a problem and the solution is to apportion blame or shuffle the problem around instead of finding the cause. Third world thinking.

Not polite to say ignorant, so I wont.

Maybe Obama-Care or the NHS of the UK will cover Thais in the Future and the problem will be solved

Yet life expectancy in Thailand, at 75 years, is higher than most SE Asian countries. Only Vietnam, Brunei and Singapore are higher.

So the health system overall is not so bad.

But in Khon Kaen, the public hospital seems overloaded. For many, it's a whole day of waiting.

Edited January 15, 201610 yr by phoenixdoglover

Yet life expectancy in Thailand, at 75 years, is higher than most SE Asian countries. Only Vietnam, Brunei and Singapore are higher.

So the health system overall is not so bad.

But in Khon Kaen, the public hospital seems overloaded. For many, it's a whole day of waiting.

Been to KK hospital quite a few times. Wards overflowing. Government needs to build more public hospitals. Shouldn't be a problem finding budget; always money to be made in government contracts.

If you are a regular visitor to KK hospital you could hsve noted a lot of building is going on there.

Also, in Khon Kaen there are many local clinics run by the government, meant as 1st echelon GP.

Some of them can do small operations.

Also new small hospital like clinics are planned around KK.

But, indeed, most Thai people go to the big hospital.

Not because it is free, as the advocates of private care suppose, but because they have nowhere else to go.

Just a thought. How many of the beds in all these hospitals are occupied by victims of road traffic accidents ?, I would imagine that the treatment and recovery from bike/car crashes involve many days some times before being able to leave hospital. It's a big picture they should be looking at. And the reason for arriving at hospital and held in hospital . Sorry just to make clear...what was the cause of the need for a visit to hospital..ie fever/ accident etc..thought I'd better make that clear before someone jumped on me

Edited January 15, 201610 yr by Nigeone

Sure the NLA isn't getting confused with the state of hospitals in Australia , especially Western Australia...................

Yes, the gov't hospital in Udon is overcrowded and has been for many years. My brother in law spent the night on a balcony getting eaten by mosquito's some years back after an accident. They awoke him early, very early in the AM for an unexpected op and the surgeon screwed it up. Left a gifted guitar player with a finger that didn't work, well he did put it back in one piece, forgot the ligaments, ah duh. I raised holy hell but was told to zip mouth by my wife. The hospital looks like it was built in the '50's, although I understand there are good doctors and good equipment. Yea, tell that to my brother in law. Frankly a visit to a private hospital is not much more expensive because the tests etc. at the gov't hospital are about the same price. Young son's stay there was cut short due to lack of care and I gladly payed the private hospital bill, wasn't too happy about the gov't hospital bill.

I find a lot of these people are just time wasters I have a farang friend whose thai wife seems to spend more time at a local hospital than anywhere else and my landlady goes to hospital every other day .

some insurance only pays if hospitilation is require for at least 1 day, so the patient is admitted as the charges can be inflated and unneeded tests charged for, done or not.

I have no documentation to back this statement but ''the reason there are so many private hospitals is due to the money to be made by them and their owners'' The government run hospitals are too inefecient to make

money, due to several reasons that I have read about, corruption, prices, staffing of gophers for adminstration, doctors, etc.

a good effeciency expert from outside Thaland would have a field day here. There are companies who do this world wide, but knowing the mentality here any helpful advice would be ignored.

I was in the Khon Kaen hospital yesterday to visit my wife's aunt. She'll be having surgery next week. I was shocked. The overcrowding is unimaginable. Every corner is covered with hospital beds. She was being kept in what is essentially an exterior corridor with no windows and open to the outside. The place looked relatively clean, but dilapidated. We were there for maybe twenty or thirty minutes. I only saw one staff member (a nurse). It reminded me of a scene out of the movie "The Impossible".

In the US, staff usually outnumbers patients. At MD Anderson, a major cancer center in Houston, when I've been there it was difficult to find the patients. It seemed like everyone was an employee.

Is this typical of Thai public hospitals? Before this I had a generally positive impression of the Thai healthcare system. We've been to clinics that were efficient and effective. Pharmacists know what they're doing. I know a lot of people come from western countries to have a variety of elective surgeries at affordable prices.