New source of aid money sought for medical staff

OVER the past decade, 4,300 medical personnel have been affected during their medical service, contracting diseases such as tuberculosis, plus injuries during patient-referral transport and exposure to patients’ body fluids.
The National Health Security Office (NHSO) has provided Bt47 million in aid money for the victims.
But the Council of State has now ruled the NHSO per-head subsidy can no longer be spent on staff compensation. So, the Public Health Ministry is seeking a PM’s Office regulation to provide victims with remedial measures instead.
Injured medical staff gained public attention last week following a story that circulated among Thai Facebook users by Arada Wongdeelert, whose father, a doctor at Prachin Buri’s Kabin Buri Hospital, died after contracting a virus from a patient.
According to the NHSO, 4,329 affected medical personnel requested and were qualified for compensation from the fiscal year 2004 until November 2015. These claims included 23 deaths, 16 disabilities and 4,290 injuries – and the NHSO paid Bt47 million in compensation to them.
Under the NHSO’s old criteria, a death, permanent disability or life-long illness entitled a payout up to Bt400,000, while a disability or organ loss qualified for a payment of up to Bt240,000; and an injury or continuous illness would bring a payout of up to Bt100,000.
In the fiscal year 2014, a total of 420 staff sought aid money. The five types of claims most cited were: contracting tuberculosis (171 cases), being assaulted by patients (114 cases), pricked by infected needle points (26 cases), pricked by needles by uninfected patients (30 cases), injury during patient-referral transport (42 cases) and exposure to body fluids (23 cases). The three most affected groups were professional nurses, at 206 cases; caretakers, 102 cases; and doctors, 28 cases.
Department of Disease Control chief Dr Sopon Mekthon said the Finance Ministry had regulations to compensate only medical personnel who had contracted HIV/Aids on-duty. HIV-positive staff would get up to Bt1.5 million, with his or her spouse getting Bt500,000 and his or her child Bt300,000, he said. In cases of an affected worker’s death from HIV/Aids while performing duties, the family would get up to Bt1 million, he said.
As the NHSO subsidy can no longer assist affected medical personnel, the ministry has pushed for a PM’s Office regulation to help them – and other medical personnel at all ministries, Sopon said. If it comes into effect, each ministry could set up a budget for such cases. The health ministry, for example, could set Bt6 million a year.
In the meantime, Public Health Minister Dr Piyasakol Sakolsataya-dorn, as NHSO chair, has asked NHSO committees to hear pleas from affected workers and discuss compensation cases with the Budget Bureau on an individual basis.