Medical cost transparency urged

Medical cost transparency urged

Patients overcharged by private hospitals submit a petition with 33,000 signatures calling for a new body to control the prices  of medical treatment. (Bangkok Post file photo)
Patients overcharged by private hospitals submit a petition with 33,000 signatures calling for a new body to control the prices of medical treatment. (Bangkok Post file photo)

The Commerce Ministry is set to invoke the Price of Goods and Services Act to require private hospitals and clinics disclose their medicine and medical service charges and possibly display their prescription prices.

The requirement will allow buyers to decide whether to use the hospital's services or buy medicine from them, said Boonyarit Kalanamit, director-general of the Internal Trade Department.

In addition, the department will dispatch its officials to inspect private medical service providers and hospitals nationwide to prevent overcharging, starting this week.

Medicine is already on the price control list under the Act, but enforcement has been lax.

Mr Boonyarit said the Act empowered the government to issue measures requiring private hospitals or clinics to prepare a medicine price list. Clinics declining to display a price list will be subject to a fine of up to 10,000 baht.

Medical services are not included on the list yet.

Inflated medicine and medical service charges have long been complaints, leading Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to instruct the Public Health and Commerce ministries to set standard median prices for medical care and medicines at private hospitals that meet international standards as Thailand prepares to join the Asean Economic Community later this year. He also told the ministries to set standard prices for each type of medical treatment.

Gen Prayut wants the ministries to explain why only specific drugs are needed for certain treatments. He also insisted the ministries ensure the price difference quoted by private and state-run hospitals for the same treatment not be excessive, out of concern that overcharging could adversely affect the country's goal of becoming a healthcare hub.

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