The government is considering investing two billion baht a year in hiring certified carers to provide basic care to the estimated 300,000 bedridden patients living at home nationwide.
A proposal to amend relevant laws -- to allow the local administrative organisations to spend state budget they receive for employing a sufficient number of carers to work in their communities -- was discussed last Thursday, PM's Office Minister Kobsak Pootrakool said Wednesday.
He was referring to a meeting of the government committee steering and accelerating the implementation of policies initiated by the regime.
The laws proposed for amendment include one dealing with the allocation of budget for financing the employment of carers needed to assist families in taking care of bedridden patients, he said.
On average about two billion baht is needed each year to deliver such care, which will not only improve welfare for sick, elderly people but also create more jobs in the shape of carers in communities across the country, he said.
The national committee on elderly persons was expected today to begin discussing the proposal to amend the laws to allow the allocation of the two billion baht budget for hiring community carers, he said.
In the first year of implementing a community care project, the two billion baht is expected to be disbursed from the National Health Security Office (NHSO) that currently handles community care for the bedridden and the elderly, he said.
NHSO deputy secretary-general, Dr Prachaksvich Lebnak, said his organisation has begun implementing a project to improve care for bedridden elderly patients.
The NHSO has been working with local administrative organisations in getting the project off the ground, he said.
Dr Santi Lapbenjakul, director of Lam Sonthi Hospital in Lop Buri, noted that as the younger members of families in rural areas migrate to cities in search of work, bedridden elderly patients are left in the care of relatives or neighbours who are also old.
As a result, the sick are not receiving proper care, he said. Many are poor, underfed and neglected.
Dr Santi said he welcomed the proposal to provide funding for the bedridden patient project. He explained it would make it a lot easier for both local administrative organisations and related parties to improve care for the elderly at home.
With carers hired to work in communities, patients will be assured access to standard care and treatment every day, he said.
On several visits to homes with bed-bound patients, Chamroen Tochot, a carer working for a health promotion facility in tambon Kut Ta Phet in Lop Buri, said she came across heart-breaking scenes in which the patients were living in squalid condition.
Often, meals prepared for them by their children before they left for work were full of ants, Ms Chamroen said.