UNAIDS praises Thailand's health insurance system as regional model

BANGKOK, September 5 (TNA) - The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) has praised Thailand's health insurance system as a practical model that should be applied to other countries in Asia and the Pacific. UNAIDS Director Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific Eamonn Murphy made the remarks at an international conference in Bangkok on Wednesday, in which medical experts from UNAIDS, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Thai Ministry of Public Health's National Health Security Office (NHSO) and those from other member countries in the ASEAN Community (AC) participated. Murphy acknowledged that Thailand’s health insurance system under the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) of the Ministry of Public Health has been proved to have practically lessened limits to the access to healthcare services of people in the country, especially those in the underprivileged groups. Murphy expressed her appreciation that even prisoners in Thailand are eligible to the universal public healthcare access appropriately. Murphy said it is pleased that the number of HIV patients in Thailand has, thus, steadily dropped although the number of tuberculosis patients has not yet declined. According to the UNAIDS director, Wednesday's conference should be beneficial to other countries in the AC and in the wider Asian-Pacific region in terms of the application of Thailand's health insurance system to their national healthcare systems. Meanwhile, Kanchana Patarachoke, Director-General of the Department of International Organizations, under the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Wednesday's conference paved the way for the endorsement of a global declaration at an upcoming World Health Organization (WHO) forum, in which Thailand will participate. The senior Thai official revealed that results of Wednesday's conference will also be included in the agenda of international events marking the WHO's Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day, which falls on every December 12. (TNA)