May 9, 2013, at 1400hrs, at the Inner Santi Maitree Building, Government House, PM Yingluck presided over a policy meeting on the development of medical hub which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana, Public Health Minister Pradit Sintawanarong (M.D.), Deputy Public Health Minister Cholanan Srikaew (M.D.), and concerned officers. Gist of the meeting is as follows:
PM Yingluck stated that, as part of an attempt to promote Thailand as a regional medical hub, the Government intended to integrate medical services of the Ministries of Education, and Public Health in order to enhance clear and unified strategies, reduce work redundancy, and efficiently manage budget allocation. On the aspect of a national strategy, the Government wished to achieve in the completeness of fundamental healthcare, upgrade of healthcare in various areas, and healthcare in terms of tourism, as well as more employment opportunity and development of excellence as a medical hub. The Government has determined 4 goals for the medical hub development as follows: 1) to become a Wellness Hub with full-cycle health services; 2) to become a Medical Service Hub with spa and medical tourism services that are the country’s strengths; 3) to become an Academic Hub with national excellence in medical research and development; and 4) to become a Product Hub of medicines, medical supplies, and health-related products.
PM Yingluck also added that there should be plans to prepared for and accommodate Thailand’s turning into an aging society. Since health security funds could hardly match up with the ever-increasing medical cost, development in healthcare and medicines to ensure better health and less sickness would be a better option, as well as a long-term plan for the development of medical personnel to curb the problem of staffing deficiency particularly in the public sector.
Also acknowledged during the meeting was the Medical Hub Development Strategic Plan proposed by Ministry of Public Health, following a revision to make it consistent with the National Strategies (2014-2017). According to the Plan, the vision is to push forward Thailand to become an international medical hub within the next 5 years (2014-2017) by making the most use of the country’s limited medical resources and environmental and natural resources to eventually increase income and develop people’s livelihood.
On the agendas to be considered, a working group would be set up to work on the detail of Academic Hub development in the area of medicine and healthcare, as proposed by Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health, Narong Sahamethapat, M.D., in order to support the Government’s policy on the medical hub and service plan. The working group would be composed of representatives from Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Education, NESDB, and the Budget Bureau. On the Service Hub, it was agreed for the Consortium of Thai Medical Schools to discuss on the development direction first for further consideration. As for the Wellness Hub, Ministry of Public Health would coordinate with the private sectors on spa management, healthcare promotion with related to tourism, labor skills development, and related laws. It would also coordinate with concerned agencies on the development of Product Hub particularly the legal issues related to food, and cosmetics.