The board of National Health Security Office (NHSO) will ask the cabinet to approve a central budget of 3.5 billion baht to treat Covid-19 patients under the Universal Health Coverage scheme, NHSO secretary-general Sakchai Kanchanawattana said on Monday.
The move came after the NHSO resolved to allow the scheme to cover medical bills for Covid-19 from diagnosis to treatments and rehabilitation.
The move is aimed at relieving concerns over expenses if cardholders are suspected of contracting the virus, though health officials insist Thailand remains a "Level 2" country which means there is no current outbreak, according to the board meeting, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.
The board initially plans to spend around one billion baht to support this effort, Dr Sakchai said.
Thailand is also seeking to import more drugs from China in case the number of cases rises significantly, according to Mr Anutin.
"Thailand has enough drugs to treat patients' symptoms for their recovery unless the situation becomes critical. Thai authorities have confidence in their treatment regime because 28 out of 43 patients have been able to go home," Mr Anutin said at Government House.
After a meeting with Chinese charge d'affaires Yang Xin, Mr Anutin said he had asked China to allow export of medicines to Thailand despite short supply and controls on their export.
Meanwhile, 13 airlines have agreed to give refunds to passengers who booked flights to high-risk countries before Feb 21 and will allow those with flights after that date to reschedule for any time up until Dec 15 without incurring additional costs.
"We've received cooperation from the airlines to help passengers who don't want to fly to countries affected by Covid-19," Pol Maj Gen Prasit Chalermvuthisak, secretary-general of the Office of the Consumer Protection Board, said after a discussion with the airlines' representatives yesterday.
Budget airlines are considering whether they will follow suit by giving refunds to passengers who booked to travel before March 31 and allowing others to reschedule for their flights for any time until Dec 15.
