Thailand has seen a six-fold increase in the number of medical doctors in the past three decades, which makes the Medical Council confident that all state-run hospitals will be fully staffed within five years. This will ensure that doctors no longer have to work long hours.
Citing a 2017 announcement by the council, Chanwalee Sisukho, a member of the council, said each doctor should not work more than 16 hours continuously.
She was referring in particular to working conditions in the emergency room at a state hospital.
In case of general working hours -- excluding hours in the emergency room -- doctors should not work more than 40 hours per week, she said, citing a recommendation by the council.
This year there are more than 60,000 certified medical doctors in the country, compared with only 10,000 in 1983, she said.
"The rise in the number of doctors has reached a peak in the past five years, as a transition from the era of baby-boomer doctors to Gen Y doctors takes place," she said. "Believe me, the total working hours of doctors will in the near future change dramatically."
Last year, Human Resource for Health Research and Development Office (HRDO) predicted an oversupply of health personnel in the country by 2026.
In a report, the HRDO estimated the demand for health personnel in 2026 will be 60,607, while the supply will range between 128,729 and 142,997.
This projection was based on the current rates of health personnel produced each year.
The HRDO also suggested in its report that the admission rates of students into education providers producing health personnel should be revised to avoid oversupply.
The demand for doctors, for instance, was projected to range between 38,236 and 46,946 in 2026, while the total supply of doctors was expected to be 63,065 in that year, said the HRDO report.
However, a slight undersupply of medical nurses was predicted in the report. While the demand for nurses by 2026 was estimated to be between 194,205 and 237,870, the actual number of practicing nurses at the time is estimated to be between 180,992 and 193,048.
The demand for dentists was estimated to be between 16,457 and 20,546, while the actual number of dentists in 2026 is estimated to be between 17,415 and 18,675.
The country's capacity for producing medical doctors has jumped from about 800 per year to about 4,000 per year, said Dr Thinakorn Noree, a member of the ministry's sub-committee who was asked to plan the country's health workforce previously.
In the next decade, he said, the number of doctors and nurses will be slightly over or under the actual demand for them, he said.
The number of pharmacists, however, continued to decrease as fewer students were interested in studying to become pharmacists, he said.
Prasitchai Mungchit, director of Kaeng Khoi Hospital in Saraburi, however, said although there are more health care facilities in the provinces, certain large state hospitals are still more crowded than others.