The National Health Security Office (NHSO) said it won't scrap the Cancer Anywhere (CA) programme -- which allows cancer patients to choose where they would like to receive their treatment -- despite calls from several experts to have the scheme scrapped due to spiralling costs.
Addressing growing concerns about the new guidelines for the CA programme, NHSO secretary-general Jadej Thammatacharee said on Monday that a joint working panel would be established to draw up a solution within three months.
He said the NHSO on Sunday met with representatives from major hospitals which recently threatened to stop accepting cancer patient referrals under the CA programme over cost concerns, namely King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Siriraj Hospital, Ramathibodi Hospital, Chulabhorn Hospital and Khon Kaen's Srinagarind Hospital.
Dr Jadej Thammatacharee
The hospitals agreed to continue accepting cancer patients from other hospitals until March, said Dr Jadej.
Dr Jadej said that a working panel will be established to address other issues, which include the expenses incurred by transferred cancer patients that will be covered by the NHSO.
The panel, chaired by Dr Sanan Visuthisakchai, deputy director of Siriraj Hospital, will meet for its first meeting on Jan 15.
The NHSO introduced its Cancer Anywhere programme in 2021.
Since the programme was launched, several major hospitals have seen a spike in the number of patients seeking cancer treatment. The surge has put a strain on their finances, as they claimed the NHSO is often late in reimbursing the costs they have to cover.
The NHSO also recently revised its payment conditions to cover only cancer treatments as well as laboratory testing and cancer-specific medications. Other kinds of medicines, such as antihypertensives, antiemetics, as well as accommodation, food, and X-rays will not be covered by the fund, starting from Jan 1.