HEALTH COMMISSION OPPOSES MEDICAL TAX PRIVILEGES
The National Health Commission Office (NHCO) is opposing a proposed change to the 2009 national health charter that would enable the government to grant tax and investment privileges to commercial health service companies under the new medical hub policy.
The NHCO says the proposal would exacerbate the shortage of doctors in state hospitals and reduce poor people’s access to quality medical treatment.
The Private Hospital Association (PHA) proposed the legal amendments, saying they would help promote Thailand as a medical hub and increase its competitiveness among Asian countries.
The Thai Chamber of Commerce, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association and the Institute for Small and Medium Enterprises Development back the medical-hub policy.
Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri has already announced the government’s Medical Hub and Wellness policy.
The proposal is among 37 current proposed changes to corporate and environmental laws.
The PHA plans to submit the proposal to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra today at the Thailand Competitiveness Conference 2012, where the PM is attending seminars alongside high-ranking officials from the government sector and executives from the private sector.
Dr Phusit Prakongsai, director of Public Health Ministry’s International Health Policy Programme (IHPP), said it would wait for the government’s response to the amendment proposal today before deciding its next move against the medical-hub policy.
He said the IHPP would explain to agencies why it is opposes the policy.
Phusit said the IHPP opposed it because it did not want relevant agencies to turn a health issue into a matter of products, trade and profit that would benefit only private companies and not ordinary citizens.
According to the NHCO, article 51 of the 2009 national health charter states that the government should not support or grant tax and investment privileges to commercial health service companies. Article 106 states that the government has to increase tax collection from commercial health service companies and health-damaging products, and article 109 states that the government is supposed to develop effective monetary and finance management to control treatment costs, by arranging the scope of costs in advance.
While drafting the National Health Bill, lawmakers proposed that the health service should not be run commercially to make profit, the NHCO said.
