Hospitals stay loyal to Toon’s wishes to buy new equipment

After Artiwara’s overwhelmingly successful cross-country charity run, which raised more than Bt1.2 billion for 11 public hospitals across the country, the public has been focusing on how this large sum of money will be spent.
Doctors from two of the 11 hospitals confirmed that all of the money would be used to buy new medical equipment, not on preventive health promotion, as some health experts have suggested.

This was to respect Artiwara’s original intention ahead of a meeting between all 11 hospitals and the Phramongkutklao Hospital Foundation, the manager of the money, later this month.
The 11 public hospitals are Yala Hospital, Chao Phraya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital, Phramongkutklao Hospital, Nan Hospital, Surat Thani Hospital, Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital, Khon Kaen Hospital, Chao Phraya Yommarat, Saraburi Hospital, Nakhonping Hospital, and Ratchaburi Hospital.
Khon Kaen Hospital director Dr Chanchai Chanworachaikul said no final decision had yet been reached on how to spend the proceeds of Artiwara’s charity campaign since fund-raising had not yet finished.
“Right now we have listed some of our medical equipment wishlist, which includes catheterisation laboratory equipment and new respirators for the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). The average cost of this new equipment is around Bt400 million,” Chanchai said.
“However, this wish list is not the final one, because there has still been no official discussion between the 11 hospitals and the Phramongkutklao Hospital Foundation and there still needs to be more discussion with the local authorities and the people on how will we spend the donation.”

Chanchai said that it was very likely that Phramongkutklao Hospital Foundation would allocate its allocation to Khon Kaen Hospital and other hospitals in cash and let each one decide for itself how best to spend it on medical equipment. That way, he said, they would be able to select the medical equipment that suited their needs the best.
“For Khon Kaen Hospital, we have already planned to set up a committee, including all stakeholders and chaired by the provincial governor, to oversee the donation management and assure the transparent use of this donation,” Chanchai said.
He added that this was the way Khon Kaen Hospital had decided to handle the matter but that each hospital might have different ways of using their allocation.
He was clear about one thing: that the money in Khon Kaen should be spent exclusively on vital medical equipment, since Khon Kaen Hospital is the centre for treating critical patients from neighbouring provinces and the new equipment would significantly improve the health services it was able to provide and save people’s lives.
Nan Hospital director Dr Paradorn Mongkonchaturong also confirmed that his hospital would spend its share on new medical equipment as well as on new operation theatres.
As with Khon Kaen, Paradon said his hospital’s new medical equipment wishlist had still not been finalised, as his hospital also had to wait for an official decision from its meeting with the Phramongkutklao Hospital Foundation.
“I insisted that the money from all donors across the country would be wisely and transparently spent, because we will purchase the new necessary medical equipment as per the official regulations,” he said.
Even though Artiwara’s charity run ended last month, people still have until the end of May to donate to his campaign charity.