- Home
- DescriptionNews
Thailand and Japan share experience in COVID-19 responses
Thailand and Japan share experience in COVID-19 responses
Despite their differences in healthcare infrastructure, Thailand and Japan actually share certain similarities in their efforts to fight COVID-19, which has consequently led to their success in coping with the pandemic and its impact on both nations.
And after about two years of dealing with the pandemic their way, the two countries had recently on March 23, 2022 begun sharing experience and lessons learned from their COVID-19 responses with one another through an online seminar.
The seminar was jointly organised by Ministry of Public Health of Thailand, the National Health Security Office (NHSO) of Thailand, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
As Thailand and Japan were both among the first countries to detect a COVID-19 case outside China in 2020, they have been through a lot of similar situations connected with the coronavirus outbreak, said Dr Lalitaya Kongkam, deputy secretary-general of the NHSO.
And now that two years have already passed, it will become fruitful for both countries to share their experience and learn from each other, she said, adding that this first online seminar between Thailand and Japan marked the beginning of their new attempt to strengthen their collaboration on COVID-19 responding.
“It has been a difficult time, but I believe we’ve learned a lot,” said Dr Yoko Tsurugi, director of Kikuchi Public Health Centre in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.
.png)
In Japan’s fight against COVID-19, Public Health Centres (PHCs) are responsible for overseeing all public health activities associated with the COVID-19 containment and leading the implementation of countermeasures against the pandemic, said Dr Marika Nomura, a senior advisor of health and nutrition, JICA.
With considerable experience in handling infectious diseases in Japan such as tuberculosis, these centres are very capable of leading the country’s responses to COVID-19, she said.
When a new COVID-19 patient is diagnosed by a clinic, the PHC will step in to coordinate further processes, including getting the infected patient to a proper healthcare facility or an isolation service, whether it will be a hospital, hotel isolation or home isolation, she said.
And now with a new information system developed specifically for COVID-19 responses, information about such a new COVID-19 case can be shared in a real-time manner among all other agencies concerned, including ones responsible for tracing contacts of the infected patient and monitoring the health of the patient until he or she fully recovers from the infection, she said.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck Japan, the PHC focused mainly on preventive medicine in its work to promote good health in communities across the country, said Dr Ryosuke Yano, director of Morioka City Public Health Centre in Iwate Prefecture.
There currently are 470 PHCs in Japan, 354 of which are operated by prefectures, which are equivalent to provinces in Thailand, while 116 others are managed by megacities, he said.
In smaller cities, there are 2,457 municipal health centres to serve the people in communities, he said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the key mechanism in Morioka City’s COVID-19 management operation now is the central management team, which comprises five sub-teams, namely countermeasure team, logistics team, care coordination team, patient transport and specimen collecting team, and public relations and supply management team, he said.
Back in the beginning of the pandemic when the number of infections had yet to be overwhelming, healthcare institutions played a vital role in examining and providing care to COVID-19 infected patients, he said.
However, as COVID-19 become more widespread later the national government had to step in to offer incentives for these healthcare institutions to offer more care to COVID-19 patients, he said.
About 70% of these healthcare institutions are privately-owned ones with no obligations to take care all COVID-19 patients, he said.
Prefectural governments, meanwhile, had set up hotel isolation facilities to cater to patients with mild symptoms in order to relieve the burden of patient care on the hospital institutions, he said.
There also is a bed management team to decide which patients go to which COVID-19 care facilities, considering their health condition, he said, adding that the team consists mostly of emergency room doctors.
In Japan, while most healthcare costs are usually covered by health insurance, patients pay about 10% to 15% of the total sum of their medical bill, he said.
However, in case of COVID-19 treatment and care, the national government subsidizes a half of the co-payment and the prefectural government is responsible for paying the other half of it, he said.
In Thailand, healthcare and financial resources from all three existing health schemes have been mobilised to support the government’s handling of COVID-19 patients, said Dr Sawitree Visanuyothin, director of NHSO Region 9 in Nakhon Ratchasima.
On top of that, the cabinet has approved additional funds to finance the work of both containing the spread of COVID-19 and relieving the impact of the pandemic on Thailand and its people, she said.
Last year, 30.34 billion baht had been approved by the cabinet as the additional budget for these purposes, she said.
From adopting zero-COVID policy in the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, Thailand had in 2021 shifted to a new policy to live with COVID-19, she said, adding that the country now aims to soon declare COVID-19 an endemic disease.
Comprehensive measures are now rolled out to mitigate both direct and indirect consequences of COVID-19, including the lasting socio-economic impact of the pandemic, she said.
Among several lessons learned through Thailand’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic is that participation by multi-stakeholders can increase the country’s ability to handle a health crisis, she said.
Another important lesson learned also over the past two years is that digital health, new technology and virtual care are now playing a crucial role in the development of such as telehealth and telemedicine, she said.
Although different countries have different approaches to prevent and respond to COVID-19, their common goal always is to protect the lives of their people from COVID-19, said Dr Eri Osawa, chief senior researcher of National Institute of Public Health Japan.
“We’re looking forward to sharing more information and experience as we continue working to sustain our success,” she said.
Despite their differences in healthcare infrastructure, Thailand and Japan actually share certain similarities in their efforts to fight COVID-19, which has consequently led to their success in coping with the pandemic and its impact on both nations.
And after about two years of dealing with the pandemic their way, the two countries had recently on March 23, 2022 begun sharing experience and lessons learned from their COVID-19 responses with one another through an online seminar.
The seminar was jointly organised by Ministry of Public Health of Thailand, the National Health Security Office (NHSO) of Thailand, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
As Thailand and Japan were both among the first countries to detect a COVID-19 case outside China in 2020, they have been through a lot of similar situations connected with the coronavirus outbreak, said Dr Lalitaya Kongkam, deputy secretary-general of the NHSO.
And now that two years have already passed, it will become fruitful for both countries to share their experience and learn from each other, she said, adding that this first online seminar between Thailand and Japan marked the beginning of their new attempt to strengthen their collaboration on COVID-19 responding.
“It has been a difficult time, but I believe we’ve learned a lot,” said Dr Yoko Tsurugi, director of Kikuchi Public Health Centre in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.
In Japan’s fight against COVID-19, Public Health Centres (PHCs) are responsible for overseeing all public health activities associated with the COVID-19 containment and leading the implementation of countermeasures against the pandemic, said Dr Marika Nomura, a senior advisor of health and nutrition, JICA.
With considerable experience in handling infectious diseases in Japan such as tuberculosis, these centres are very capable of leading the country’s responses to COVID-19, she said.
When a new COVID-19 patient is diagnosed by a clinic, the PHC will step in to coordinate further processes, including getting the infected patient to a proper healthcare facility or an isolation service, whether it will be a hospital, hotel isolation or home isolation, she said.
And now with a new information system developed specifically for COVID-19 responses, information about such a new COVID-19 case can be shared in a real-time manner among all other agencies concerned, including ones responsible for tracing contacts of the infected patient and monitoring the health of the patient until he or she fully recovers from the infection, she said.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck Japan, the PHC focused mainly on preventive medicine in its work to promote good health in communities across the country, said Dr Ryosuke Yano, director of Morioka City Public Health Centre in Iwate Prefecture.
There currently are 470 PHCs in Japan, 354 of which are operated by prefectures, which are equivalent to provinces in Thailand, while 116 others are managed by megacities, he said.
In smaller cities, there are 2,457 municipal health centres to serve the people in communities, he said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the key mechanism in Morioka City’s COVID-19 management operation now is the central management team, which comprises five sub-teams, namely countermeasure team, logistics team, care coordination team, patient transport and specimen collecting team, and public relations and supply management team, he said.
Back in the beginning of the pandemic when the number of infections had yet to be overwhelming, healthcare institutions played a vital role in examining and providing care to COVID-19 infected patients, he said.
However, as COVID-19 become more widespread later the national government had to step in to offer incentives for these healthcare institutions to offer more care to COVID-19 patients, he said.
About 70% of these healthcare institutions are privately-owned ones with no obligations to take care all COVID-19 patients, he said.
Prefectural governments, meanwhile, had set up hotel isolation facilities to cater to patients with mild symptoms in order to relieve the burden of patient care on the hospital institutions, he said.
There also is a bed management team to decide which patients go to which COVID-19 care facilities, considering their health condition, he said, adding that the team consists mostly of emergency room doctors.
In Japan, while most healthcare costs are usually covered by health insurance, patients pay about 10% to 15% of the total sum of their medical bill, he said.
However, in case of COVID-19 treatment and care, the national government subsidizes a half of the co-payment and the prefectural government is responsible for paying the other half of it, he said.
In Thailand, healthcare and financial resources from all three existing health schemes have been mobilised to support the government’s handling of COVID-19 patients, said Dr Sawitree Visanuyothin, director of NHSO Region 9 in Nakhon Ratchasima.
On top of that, the cabinet has approved additional funds to finance the work of both containing the spread of COVID-19 and relieving the impact of the pandemic on Thailand and its people, she said.
Last year, 30.34 billion baht had been approved by the cabinet as the additional budget for these purposes, she said.
From adopting zero-COVID policy in the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, Thailand had in 2021 shifted to a new policy to live with COVID-19, she said, adding that the country now aims to soon declare COVID-19 an endemic disease.
Comprehensive measures are now rolled out to mitigate both direct and indirect consequences of COVID-19, including the lasting socio-economic impact of the pandemic, she said.
Among several lessons learned through Thailand’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic is that participation by multi-stakeholders can increase the country’s ability to handle a health crisis, she said.
Another important lesson learned also over the past two years is that digital health, new technology and virtual care are now playing a crucial role in the development of such as telehealth and telemedicine, she said.
Although different countries have different approaches to prevent and respond to COVID-19, their common goal always is to protect the lives of their people from COVID-19, said Dr Eri Osawa, chief senior researcher of National Institute of Public Health Japan.
“We’re looking forward to sharing more information and experience as we continue working to sustain our success,” she said.
