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Decha Hospital appeals for lifeline

Decha Hospital appeals for lifeline

DHSS gives 60 days to improve staffing levels and meet requirements.

EXECUTIVES at Bangkok’s Decha Hospital have requested the Department of Health Service Support (DHSS) for help to improve the facility following a temporary closure order over allegations of substandard services.
The request was made to keep the hospital operating pending new ownership.
Regarding approximately 40,000 Social Security Office (SSO) subscribers who will be transferred from Decha, Rajavithi and Lerdsin hospitals based in downtown Bangkok are prepared to take them, DHSS chief Dr Boonreung Traireungworarat said yesterday. 
The department also instructed officials to check on practices at other medical facilities to ensure they met the legally required standards and provided quality healthcare for the benefit of the public. 
When the DHSS initially discussed quality-related issues with Decha executives, they said the problems arose from internal management, Boonreung said. Hospital executives also told DHSS that they still wanted to provide medical services so they requested a grace period to give the hospital time to improve. 
“So we gave them 60 days to improve personnel, the facility and services to meet the legal standard,” Boonreung said, adding the department would consider whether the facility should be closed permanently after the 60-day period ends.
Boonreung said the temporary closure order was issued because the facility did not meet legally required standards, including a failure to staff enough personnel, especially in the three essential positions of doctor, nurse and pharmacist. The hospital’s emergency unit was also closed. 
Besides complaints about allegedly substandard services, the hospital owner who held the licence to run the medical facility died a month ago, requiring the hospital to notify the DHSS regarding a new owner. 
The Labour Protection and Welfare Department also received complaints from about 60 Decha staff members who claimed they had not received their salaries since December.
DHSS deputy chief Dr Thongchai Keeratihuttayakorn said Decha Hospital could appeal to the Public Health Ministry to lift the closure order within 30 days. 
If the facility improves in all aspects to meet legal requirements as per the Sanatorium Act BE 2541, it could notify the DHSS to review its operations and to consider revoking the closure order, Thongchai said.
In a related development, five nurses of Decha Hospital yesterday filed complaints at Phya Thai Police Station about not being paid overdue salaries. 
Nurse Darunee Sathasathit, 36, said she has worked there for six years. She said even earlier salary used to be delayed occasionally and they used to be understanding. Last November, the hospital owner fell sick and then died in February. She said the new management is also delaying their salary payments. 
“The last pay I got was in February and that was for the month of December. Since then we haven’t received any payments except a notification about delays in payments signed by the new management who we don’t know,” she said. 
Pol Lieutenant Phikhanet Triam-kerdsap said the hospital was initially suspected of having avoided paying staff hence the damaged persons would appoint a legal team before giving testimonies to the police.
Minister of Labour Sirichai Distakul, meanwhile, said the five SSO members who were in-patients at Decha were moved to Chulalongkorn and Phayathai hospitals. 
SSO chief Kowit Sajjwiset said his office had contacted Decha to move the SSO members to Rajavithi and Lerdsin, hence all would be clear after May 16. People could check their subscribed hospitals at www.sso.go.th or call 1506. 
According to the Department of Business Development, Decha Hospital had submitted its last financial statement in 2014, which showed revenue of Bt279 million and losses amounting to Bt60 million. Its revenue mainly came from SSO subsidies of Bt12 million a month.
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