Covid-19 patients will still get free meds in isolation, promises ministry
The Public Health Ministry said on Saturday that it will continue providing free treatment under the home and community isolation systems for Covid-19 patients even though the disease will no longer be included in the list of emergency conditions from Tuesday.
The ministry is due to remove Covid-19 from the Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients (UCEP) on March 1. Under UCEP, Covid patients receive three days of free treatment in any facility before they are switched to the hospital they are registered at under their state health insurance scheme.
However, after March 1, Covid-19 patients who do not require critical care will have to pay their own bills if they choose to be treated in private hospitals.
“Currently the dominant Covid-19 variant in Thailand is Omicron, in which 90 per cent of patients display mild or no symptoms and do not require hospital treatment,” the ministry’s permanent secretary Kiattiphum Wongrajit said. “The treatment condition has been adjusted to make hospital bed management more efficient and to prepare for the transition of Covid-19 from a pandemic to an endemic disease.”
He said after March 1, those who test positive for Covid-19 will still get free treatment under the home/community isolation systems.
“If their symptoms worsen, they will be transferred to hospital and receive free treatment under the UCEP scheme,” he said.
Kiattiphum added that the ministry will soon speak to relevant health funds about the disbursement of funds for Covid-19 treatment outside the UCEP scheme.