Access to primary care plays a crucial role in improving the outcomes of the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS).
 
According to World Health Organization, primary care aims to "improve health outcomes through health services that are integrated, coordinated and respond to individual- and population-level health needs."
 
National Health Security Office (NHSO), a Thai government agency operating the UCS, has been aware of the role of primary care.
 
Therefore, it put great effort in strengthening the capacity of health providers and local communities who act as the first contact point of patients within a healthcare system.
 
However, Nimit Tian-udom, the NHSO board member representing civic groups, pointed out that there was still the gap that prevents UCS beneficiaries from primary care access.
He raised the challenge in the beneficiary registration system, in which UCS members are automatically assigned to health units based on their address specified in their house registration document.
 
The NHSO allows them to request the changing of assigned health units, in case they move to live or work in other areas.
 
But Nimit said that in the crowded city areas, such as in Bangkok, the UCS members couldn't register at the hospitals nearby their residing areas. Because most of the hospitals are overcrowding, and they have limited quotas for UCS members.
 
Therefore, most UCS members get hospitals far from their residing areas, creating difficulty for them to reach out to primary care.  
 
Moreover, they need to obtain certificates from local community leaders or the owners of their places when applying for a new health unit --- which they find it's hard to reach those people. 
Though they succeed in changing the health units, they need to wait for 15 days until they can request health services from health providers.  
 
"These are the challenges in the UCS registration system that should be addressed and solved as soon as possible," said Nimit.
 
"We should focus on building the strength of primary care while fixing a system to make people reach primary care easily."