HEALTH COMMISSION QUERIES HUB PLAN

“We have to check if the medical hub will provide its services in line with its founding objectives,” NEC secretary-general Dr Ampon Jinda-wattana said.

 

One of the country’s leading medical schools, the Mahidol University’s Faculty of Medicine’s Siriraj Hospital, is responsible for the medical hub. “It’s a good project if it is implemented for public benefit and for medical excellence. Patients need that,” Ampon said. “When the hospital called for donations, it also said the medical hub would benefit cash-strapped patients. So, we should monitor if the project sticks to its goals.” He added that the medical school would be heading in the wrong direction if it planned to use the medical hub mainly for generating income. 

The government has foreshadowed the assigning of many medical schools to develop medical hubs at their bases. 

 

Ampon called on the government to prepare measures to minimise any brain-drain effect from such a plan. He said the medical hubs would likely draw doctors away from rural zones and shortage of medical staff in remote areas would be worsened. 

 

Dr Sumet Peeravud, dean of Prince of Songkla University’s Faculty of Medicine, said the Prince of Songkla Hospital under his medical school’s care had now accepted patients with complicated conditions from seven southern provinces.

 

“We need more budget from the government to facilitate our services. If the government can’t provide that, we may have to establish a fee-collecting medical hub and treat more foreign patients, which will affect Thai patients,” Sumet said.