The Department of Health Service Support (DHSS) is warning private hospitals that a new law requires them to provide emergency care (ER) for 72 hours to patients brought in. They are not allowed to charge them for the costs for this.
The arrangement follows from the new law on 'Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients', which came into force on Saturday. Director-General Visit says that the first 72 hours after an incident, such as a traffic accident, is of great importance for the chance of survival or recovery of victims.
Some private hospitals only want to provide emergency care if patients can prove they are insured, or if they have sufficient financial resources. Refusal can be punished under the new law with a maximum of two years in prison and/or a fine of 40.000 baht per violation.
The free treatment is valid for 72 hours, after which patients must be transferred to the hospital where they are registered. You can also stay but then you have to pay.
Government spokesman Sansern previously stated that with the new law, the government wants to give everyone equal access to health care in order to narrow the gap between rich and poor Thais.
Thailand saw 12 million emergency room patients last year, according to figures from the National Institute of Emergency Medicine. This number is expected to increase, partly due to the new law.
Source: Bangkok Post
Please note: in the English news broadcast on NBT (in the morning at 08:00) it was clearly stated that these are “citizens”… Consequently, this does not apply to expats…unfortunately.
” Everyone has equal access to care in the first 72 hours ”
Everyone seems like a foreigner to me. But am I seeing that correctly? Have my doubts.
Hopefully that arrangement also applies to tourists? Until now, all kinds of formalities often had to be fulfilled before people in hospitals started working with a (foreign) patient.
All patients? So also expats? and vacationers?
No!…tourists or non-immigrant residents are not “Citizens”…beware of this!
Is this law also intended for non-Thai people?
Does this new law only apply to Thais or also to expats?
What do they mean by emergency care? Injuries from a traffic accident seem clear to me. But an acute myocardial infarction or pneumonia normally also falls under emergency care. I wonder if Bangkok Hospital will comply with this law. My experience was that they only wanted to admit and treat me after consultation and approval of my insurance. And in my case it took an irresponsibly long time. It is all far too vague and therefore a source of conflict.
I've mentioned this before but see many questionable questions here; again: the urgent concern in the news concerns “Citizens”…and that does not include the farangs…so: Watch out!
Pensionados, students and expats are also residents in my opinion. Obviously not tourists. I think it would be a good thing if there was more clarity on this.
The intention is that hospitals will form teams to determine whether someone is eligible for emergency care. So the only question is what will become of it. That may be the case, no money or insurance, then not urgently. I think this is another half-baked measure, the implementation of which has not been properly thought through.
I expect that this urgent, non-chargeable assistance...(!) will be settled by Bangkok Hospital and "comparables" in their general prices.... so they will just charge a little more to their normal customers... or in other words, "the strongest shoulders bear the brunt." burdens of the inferior ” principle …….Accounting solution ..!
All hospitals are required to provide emergency first aid. I know of a case where a farang was sent to a state hospital and died on the way. This hospital had to pay a high compensation claim to the relatives.