New regulations ‘to ensure’ free emergency treatment
The Public Health Ministry has again pledged to ensure that people will receive free emergency medical services whenever they need them. But nobody is sure this promise will really apply to all cases across the country. The public, after all, has heard too often over the past five years how so many families struggle with massive medical bills after their beloved were rushed to hospitals. This is in spite of the fact the Public Health Ministry first unveiled the policy to give people the right to free emergency medical services in 2012. Last month, a woman paid more than Bt100,000 for emergency treatment given to her 84-year-old mother during the first three days of her treatment after the mother fell down and broke her bones. “At first, I called a state hospital for an ambulance but no one answered,” the woman’s daughter, Wimontip Charoenchuen-suwan, said. “So, I called a nearby private hospital that dispatched an ambulance to our home within 10 minutes.
