1.7-billion-baht fund reserved for new UCS benefits
 
As the second wave of COVID-19 emerges, National Health Security Office (NHSO) has reserved 1.7-billion-baht fund for fighting the pandemic and adding more benefits into Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) in 2021.
Anutin Charnvirakul, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Health, announced recently that the fund would be spent on two areas. 
First, around 1.45 billion baht will be allocated in four new services provided under UCS such as;
·       Access to family doctors in any Bangkok primary care facilities. (90 million baht)
·       Inter-facility transfers based on a paperless system, which will be piloted in health facilities located in the Area Health Region Nine in Northeastern Thailand. (No retirement for an additional fund)
·       Patients with cancer can request treatment from any capable treating hospitals across Thailand. (880 million baht)
·       NHSO mobile application, in which UCS beneficiaries can change their registered hospitals within one day, instead of waiting for 15 days to get approval from hospital operators. (483 million baht)
These services do not just bring convenience to UCS beneficiaries. They also reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission as UCS beneficiaries can avoid traveling to crowding hospitals for getting health services or doing paper documents.
Second, 249 million baht will be used for adding 10 new items into UCS benefits package such as;
·        Liver transplants for patients with intermediate- and final-stage liver cancer (23.5 million baht)
·        Hepatitis C medication (No retirement for an additional fund)
·        Genotyping for HLA-B*58:01 testing  (4.57 million baht)
·        Extracorporeal life support (27.6 million baht)
·        Chest x-ray and molecular test for tuberculosis cases (70.03 million baht)
·        Newborn hearing screening (12.33 million baht)
·        Cochlear implant surgery in children (12 million baht)
·        Renal replacement therapy for patients living with HIV (20.75 million baht)
·        Mobile laboratory (20 million baht)
·        CBD oil for patients with cancer, Parkinson's, and migraine. Cannabis extracts for treating patients with epilepsy and final-stage cancer (58.34 million baht)  
 
NHSO Secretary-General Dr Sakchai Kanjanawatana is confident that the introduction of new benefits would improve healthcare access and reduce disease burden for 49-million UCS beneficiaries.