On December 2, 2021, Labour Minister Mr. Suchart Chomklin chaired the opening of the “meeting to clarify and sign the medical service contract for 2022”. The occasion took place at the meeting room on the 5th floor, Ministry of Labour. Assistant to the Labour Minister Mr. Surachai Chaitrakulthong, the Labour Minister’s Advisor, Mrs. Thiwalrat Angkinan, Secretariat to the Labour Minister Mr. Suthep Chitayawong, Assistant Minister from the Prime Minister’s Office performing duties for the Ministry of Labour Police Major General Nantachat Supamongkol and Mr. Suthi Sukosol, the Ministry of Labour’s Spokesperson (on politics), Mrs. Theanrat Nawamawat, Permanent Secretary of Labour Mr. Boonchob Suttamanaswong, the Social Security Office’s Secretary-General Mr. Boonsong Thapchaiyut, executives of the Ministry of Labour, the Social Security Office and hospital administrators also joined the occasion. Mr. Suchart said that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister and Minister of Defense General Prayuth Chan-ocha, and Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, who supervises the Ministry of Labour, gives importance to taking care of the workforce to ensure protection and equal rights. The Labour Minister was assigned to lead the “Together Thais Build a Nation” policy and is determined to push forward various labour policies, including giving independent workers access to the social security system to create fairness and equality for workers in all sectors. It also focuses on the Social Security Office’s management and development of medical service systems to provide insured persons with good quality services that follow insured persons’ health promotion and disease prevention standards. There are also medical services, with a Governance Excellence system, which consists of information systems on health, security, medicine, medical supplies, and consumer protection for insured persons to have good health.
Mr. Suchart also spoke about the COVID-19 outbreak. From 2020 until now, the Social Security Office has increased the benefits for medical examinations and paid for medical services in the case of COVID-19, valued at over 22 billion Baht. Although the severity of the situation and death rate have reduced and, in the future, COVID-19 will become endemic, the medicines used for treatment will still need to be developed. Standards for treatment are still ongoing, and hospitals must prepare to cope with such situations. The Social Security Office still has to improve benefits for treatment to be appropriate for the current situation. Benefits to insured persons are very important. Each year, the Social Security Office selects a hospital to care for insured persons according to the standards. These standards will help insured persons build confidence in social security facilities and continually improve their health care benefits. The efforts will build confidence for the hospital and the insured persons. He thanked the hospital representatives, agency representatives, and those involved in the meeting today to clarify and sign a contract for providing medical services under the Social Security Act B.E. 2533 for 2022. He said that he sincerely hopes all hospitals will build security for the workers forever.
The Social Security Office’s Secretary-General, Mr. Boonsong Thapchaiyut, said that this event aimed to clarify the 89 private hospitals under the Social Security Program for 2022 to acknowledge the guidelines for providing excellent services to insured persons and acknowledge the guidelines for doing so. It also acknowledged the Ministry of Labour’s policy in taking care of workers across the country to jointly provide services to the insured persons towards the same goal. The event included contract signing to provide medical services to the insured persons for 2022 between the Social Security Office and private hospitals. There were 350 participants in the meeting, consisting of representatives from 89 private hospitals under the Social Security Program in 2022, executives from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security Office, distinguished guests, the media, and relevant officials. By 2022, the Social Security Office will have 254 hospitals that will care for insured persons, comprising 165 public hospitals and 89 private hospitals. There are about 2,243 public and private hospital networks. Paid medical services and medical service fees in addition to the insured medical care in 2021, valued over 52 billion Baht.
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Division of Public Relations
2 December 2021
