Thai Traditional Medicine Services of National Health Security Office Region 10 Ubonratchathani

Abstract

Introduction: The National Health Security Office (NHSO) in Thailand has approved the allocation of the financial budget under the Universal Health Care Coverage Scheme (UCS) for the following three Thai traditional medicine (TTM) activities: 1) Herbal medicine dispensing (HMD), 2) Massage, herbal steam bath, and hot compress (MHSHC), and 3) Post-partum care (PC). These TTM services were set as key performance indices of the UCS fund management. This studyxs objectives were to assess the situation and readiness of hospitals offering TTM services under NHSO region 10UbonRatchathani and their attitudes toward NHSO criteria of budget allocation during the fiscal year 2014 to 2015. Methods: Data was collected from the administrators of registered hospitals of NHSO region 10 that have TTM center units from November 2016 to January 2017. Characteristics of participants and their hospitals, level of TTM services facilities according to yService Planz, the Ministry of Public Health standards and attitudes that toward NHSO criteria for TTM budget allocation were assessed. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using SPSS. Results: Two hundred and eight respondents participated in this study. Approximately two-thirds of participants (64.4%) were female and about half (50.3%) had administrative experience in TTM services for five years or less. Forty three point three percent were Health Technical Officers. Based on self-assessment results according to the yService Planz, the majority (62.4 %) of hospitals did not meet even basic level of TTM services facilities. Most respondents agreed with HMD reimbursement criteria (83.1%). Around forty percent of respondents agreed with MHSHC reimbursement criteria for both fiscal year 2014 and 2015 (42.5 % and 41.0% respectively). They preferred 2014 to 2015 PC reimbursement criteria (41.8 % and 32.7%).Conclusions: The study findings indicate that the integration of TTM into the national health care system resulted in an increased number of public hospitals providing TTM services. However, the majority of all hospitals did not meet standard criteria as TTM services providers according to yService Planz. Therefore, the government should facilitate the practical policy to support TTM centers. In addition, NHSO should well consider the management and criteria for resource allocation for TTM services.