P4P system approved
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The Cabinet has approved the Public Health Ministry's overhaul of the medical salary system by incorporating the pay for performance principle.
Deputy government spokesman Sunisa Lertpakawat said yesterday that the salary system would award allowances based on hardship duty and seniority on the job.
Seniority will be divided into one to three years, four to 10 years and 11 years and over.
Doctors and dentists working one to three years in urban and normal areas will get a Bt10,000 monthly allowance, in extremely remote areas Bt30,000 and normal remote areas Bt20,000.
The extra allowance measure comes after some rural hospitals adopted pay for performance (P4P) and lost some doctors. And more are expected to quit when the system is rolled out in hospitals nationwide today.
The new pay system bridges the gap between doctors and other medical personnel such as nurses and pharmacists. The others would be given a bigger allowance. For instance, pharmacists working in urban areas will receive Bt2,500 and in remote areas Bt8,000-Bt10,000.
The allowances would be paid out of a hospital’s funds and if it is short of money it can seek a state budget.
Any medical personnel earning significantly lower compensation under the P4P system than what they used to receive would be entitled to state support to cushion the blow on them. The ministry will seek Cabinet approval for a review of their pay, he added.
