The universal healthcare scheme will not be closed down, Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn said on Thursday, after rumours had circulated of its planned cancellation.
Dr Piyasakol said the budget for the scheme's 2018 fiscal year will be 4% higher than for this year. Therefore, the public next year will benefit from the scheme as usual.
Next year the scheme will also cover more privileges including human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) and colorectal cancer screening.
His remarks came after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha toyed with the idea of the public paying more for the scheme to reduce the government's healthcare burden.
The concern over the budget allocation was raised in a National Health Security Office (NHSO) board meeting on Feb 6 when 128 billion baht was allocated for 2018, 13 billion baht short of that proposed.
According to the ministry, the budget allocation has always been lower than the proposed amount. The budget for 2017 was 123 billion baht.
Dr Piyasakol raised concern in the board meeting that the budget reduction may affect people’s health as the population ages and technology gets more advance which means higher costs are involved.
The minister and the NHSO successfully convinced the Budget Bureau on Feb 8 of the need for an additional 500 million baht.
About 48 million people are entitled to universal healthcare.