The resolution was made at Thursday’s meeting on Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients (UCEP) policy at the Public Health Ministry in Nonthaburi.

The meeting, presided over by Public Health Minister Dr Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, designated 15 public hospitals to take referral patients.

These hospitals are Nopparatrajathanee, Lerdsin, Rajavithi, Taksin, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration General (Klang Hospital), Charoenkrung Pracharak, Phramongkutklao, Veterans General, Bhumibol Adulyadej, Somdejprapinklao, Police General, Faculty of Medicine Vajira, Ramathibodi, Chulalongkorn and Siriraj.

If the first group of hospitals were full or the patients needed special treatment, another five specialist hospitals would provide backup. These are Priest Hospital, Central Chest Institute of Thailand, Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, National Cancer Institute and Prasat Neurological Institute.

Five other hospitals in nearby provinces will also offer backup. These hospitals are Pathum Thani, Pranangklao, Mettapracharak Watraikhing (Wat Rai Khing), Nakhon Pathom and Samut Songkhram’s Somdej Phraphutthaloetla Hospital.

National Institute for Emergency Medicine officials said they would send out a letter asking for cooperation and arrange the signing of a memorandum of understanding with these hospitals to move the UCEP policy forward.

UCEP aims to allow all emergency patients to seek treatment at nearby public and private hospitals without having to pay treatment bills in the first 72 hours – after which the patients would be referred to the hospitals their healthcare schemes had registered with.

The policy is not yet in effect throughout the country pending approval of the Sanatorium Act’s three related ministerial regulations and publication in the Royal Gazette for implementation.