NHSO chief slams budget proposal, denies role in crisis
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National Health Security Office (NHSO) chief Winai Sawasdivorn denied yesterday that the agency had caused a financial crisis affecting 105 state hospitals.
Winai said Public Health Ministry permanent secretary Narong Sahametapat’s per-head budget adjustment proposal for the universal healthcare scheme in the 2015 fiscal year would make the NHSO merely a bookkeeper as area health offices would be in charge of disbursing the budget. He warned that the proposal – if accepted – could lead to the NHSO being dissolved.
Winai said the proposal seemed to focus on solving hospitals’ liquidity issues rather than elevating people’s access to medical services, especially for expensive-to-treat diseases.
Narong previously said the financial crisis facing the hospitals was partly due to the NHSO’s poor budget management.
Narong said that the disbursement of Bt4.1 billion to hospitals was still pending at the tambon-level.
Speaking at a press conference, Winai and fellow NHSO executives hit back, saying the hospitals’ financial problems stemmed from various factors especially their own poor budget management.
Winai said the NHSO would in the 2015 fiscal year provide rural hospitals with a liquidity-boosting mechanism. He said it would comprise Bt500 million for rural hospitals, Bt3 billion for hospital salaries and Bt1.8 billion would be set aside to solve the problem.
There would also be an outpatient budget to be distributed by area health offices to affected hospitals.
The NHSO manages an annual budget of Bt140 billion.
Winai said the NHSO’s funding of various agencies was supported by the National Health Security Act and the agency’s objective to promote health services.
He said the NHSO spent Bt587 million in this manner in 2014 – only 0.42 per cent of its total budget.
He said the agency’s systematic problem-solving did not affect the public and the public health minister would next week propose the establishment of a central special working committee to find long-term solutions to the liquidity problem.
