Nakhon Ratchasima: A top Public Health Ministry official has admitted that state-owned hospitals nationwide are facing financial problems, and cooperation is urgently needed from their directors to help fix the issue.
Dr Opas Kankawinpong, the ministry's permanent secretary, said the ministry is struggling to run the public health system due to an insufficient budget, which is affecting around 1,000 hospitals that fall under its responsibility. He was speaking to medical staff from around the country at an annual academic conference on public health in Nakhon Ratchasima province yesterday.
The budget shortage will lead to less funding for medical staff and investment in medical technology for hospitals nationwide, he said.
"We have more than a thousand hospitals, and we have to manage costs such as salaries, medicine, water, electricity, and various maintenance costs. We spend about 10 billion baht on management and renovations at these hospitals a month. For internal management, such as cash reserves, we need to have at least 3-6 months of cash reserves, which means we need at least 60 billion baht.
"When asked how much money the ministry has, no one could really tell us before because each hospital does its own budgeting. But when the Financial Data Hub system was launched recently, we discovered we have about 40 billion baht in maintenance funds, but only 20 billion baht of that is our cash reserve, while the other 20 billion baht is an accounting figure, such as debts.
"In summary, we have only 20 billion baht left in cash reserves which is far from the 60 billion baht which is needed," he said.
Dr Opas said the ministry also needs to allocate an investment budget of 500 million baht for each of the 13 health authorities nationwide. The budget is not that big as this amount cannot put up a building at one hospital and there are still expenses for various pieces of equipment that need to be invested in.
"The amount of money is limited so we would like to see cooperation from all directors of state-owned hospitals in terms of improving management for the people's benefit. Next year, the ministry will adjust its administrative structure by decentralising and empowering local offices which we hope will improve the situation," he said.
