A plan to transfer supervision of all 9,800 community healthcare facilities from the Public Health Ministry to local administrative organisations has yet to be implemented, after the ministry admitted it was a rather complicated issue.
Marut Jirasetthasiri, deputy permanent secretary for public health, admitted the plan has split opinion among stakeholders. He stressed the need to carry out a more thorough study on the advantages and disadvantages of the change.
He was speaking after a meeting yesterday between those involved in the implementation of a resolution passed by a panel in charge of decentralising power to local government organisations chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam.
Under the resolution reportedly passed on Tuesday, all 9,800 so-called tambon health promotion hospitals will be transferred from the Public Health Ministry and come under the supervision of local administrative organisations in their areas.
Yesterday's meeting was divided over the proposed transfer. A number of the tambon health promotion hospitals agreed to it while others at the meeting disagreed, he said.
Also among the meeting participants were those from health-promotion hospitals that were transferred to local administrative organisation control in an earlier pilot project. Some of them backed the transfer while others wanted to return to ministry supervision, according to Mr Marut.
The Health Systems Research Institute has been assigned to conduct an in-depth study of the pros and cons of the transfer in the long run, he said.
One clear example of a local administrative organisations' limitations was their lack of authority to decide on the purchase of a rabies vaccine, which was believed to have resulted in rabies becoming widespread in many areas recently, he said.
"It's important to have the transfer executed smoothly without damaging morale among the affected hospitals.
"Although this is a law, it shouldn't be implemented forcefully. Neither should the ministry attempt to keep the hospitals under its control for ever," Mr Marut said.
In related news, Jesada Chokdamrongsuk, permanent secretary for public health, said on Wednesday the ministry needed more time to resolve a low wage issue affecting some employees working under the Public Health Ministry.
The workers have complained they are paid less than the daily minimum wage announced by the Labour Ministry.
These workers are bound by work contracts, in which they are paid only on the day they actually work or about 23 days a month, he said.
Dr Jesada said the Public Health Ministry will need some time to straighten out the problem, which requires many regulatory steps to be followed.
The ministry's inspectors-general are being assigned to conduct a survey to determine the exact number of employees who are paid less than the minimum wage before the ministry can proceed with resolving the issue, he said. Some employees have been working in ministry organisations for a long time, he noted.
