Government hospitals to get more funding

Government hospitals to get more funding

Added budget hoped to raise quality of care

The Social Security Office will increase the contribution it pays to its affiliated hospitals in order to improve the quality of care provided at the facilities. (Bangkok Post photo)
The Social Security Office will increase the contribution it pays to its affiliated hospitals in order to improve the quality of care provided at the facilities. (Bangkok Post photo)

The Social Security Office (SSO) will increase the contribution it pays to its affiliated hospitals by 16% in order to improve the quality of care provided at the facilities, said permanent labour secretary and SSO chairman Suthi Sukosol on Wednesday.

Mr Suthi said the decision to increase the rate was approved at a board meeting held on Tuesday.

"The hike is necessary because we are seeing more senior citizens enrolling in our welfare scheme. This, coupled with inflation, has increased our overall costs, so we have to adjust the costs of treatments accordingly," he said.

"We don't want to hospitals to shoulder the added burden."

According to Mr Suthi, the board decided on Tuesday to raise its contribution to its affiliated hospitals from 3,399 baht to 3,959 baht per registered individual annually. The extra money will be disbursed to 242 registered facilities across the country — including 163 hospitals and 79 community health centres.

From the sum, 1,640 baht will go towards covering basic medical insurance payment for each member, while 769 baht will be set aside to cover treatments in serious cases. A total of 453 baht will go towards covering treatments for chronic diseases, while 1,120 will be used to cover annual health check-ups.

Mr Suthi said that the sum will also cover accidents, organ replacement — including kidney and retinal transplant — and dental, prenatal care.

He assures that the fund will also cover medical expenses incurred by a person with disabilities, as well as bills exceeding one million baht.

SSO has been plagued in recent years with complaints about substandard medical services, and the added contribution is hoped to improve its' members' satisfaction.

Since 2009, the government has been granting additional budgets to registered hospitals which meet the criteria outlined in the government's Health Accreditation guidelines.

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