Minister explains health-scheme policy

Witthaya also said the ministry would next month launch a project in which people could hand in old medicines in exchange for eggs in a bid to prevent people from using expired drugs.
The Labour, Finance and Public Health ministries are working together to ensure good services and equal treatment rights for members of the civil service fund, the universal healthcare scheme and the Social Security Office’s fund, Witthaya said. Officials were working to have all three schemes provide the same standard of AIDS treatment and prevent new HIV/AIDS cases, and similar discussions were being held regarding cancer treatments, he said.
The merging of treatments under the three schemes was aimed at eliminating unnecessary spending, he said, adding that the quality of services would remain high. He said the government each year had to pay Bt270 billion for medicines, many of which weren’t necessary, and that the money saved could be spent on improving medical tools or doctor quality.
Insisting that drug quality wouldn’t be affected by the merging of treatments, the minister said officials would discuss the list of essential medicines to determine realistic and appropriate pricing, as well as the amount of prescription medicine to be kept in stock. This should solve the issue of patients “drug shopping” at various hospitals after being prescribed medicines for the same illness, he said.