Public Health Minister Pradit Sinthawanarong has been on a hot seat since his ministry introduced the Pay-for-Performance (P4P) concept for its medical staff.
The scheme is getting full support from medical workers who work in cities and towns, as they stand to enjoy better pay for the workload they shoulder. But those working in rural areas are against it, saying many of their colleagues will be lured to work in urban hospitals.
The Rural Doctor Society, a powerful group of up-country medical workers, staged a protest against the new pay scheme on Tuesday and threatened to rally every Tuesday until the public health minister steps down.
Dr Kriengsak Watcharanukulkiat, chairman of the society, said the Pay-for-Performance scheme would ruin the country's public-health system, adding that it was necessary to retain medical workers and specialists in rural areas for the sake of local residents.
It is no secret that Pradit was assigned by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to reform the Public Health Ministry in order to curb rising medical costs and to deal with its many independent agencies, such as the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, the National Health Security Office and the National Health Commission. Former students of respected medical professors, like Prawase Wasi and Vichai Chokevivat, run these agencies.
As part of the reform, the government will set up the National Health Authority, which will be chaired by the prime minister and have ministers as members, and become the policy-making agency on public health.
Observers see this move as an attempt to weaken or even dissolve the independent agencies under the Public Health Ministry. However, the public health minister rejected such claims, saying he had no power to dissolve agencies that had been established under the law, adding that the goal was simply to bring them all together under the NHA to ensure unity.
Pradit has close connections with Yingluck and her sister Yaowapa Wongsawat - a powerful figure in the ruling Pheu Thai Party. He also enjoys good ties with businesses close to certain politicians in power and some private hospitals.
The public health minister's latest move has put him on a collision course with the Rural Doctor Society, which has enjoyed a strong bargaining power in the Public Health Ministry. Nonetheless, Pradit has vowed to complete his reform mission within seven months, even if he "gets hurt" in the process.
His collision with the Rural Doctors Society is just the first round. If he goes ahead with his reform plans, he will certainly clash head-on with the more powerful independent agencies in the ministry and end up putting his ministerial seat at stake.
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Source: http://www.news.thethailandlinks.com/2013/03/28/minister-faces-head-on-clashes-over-p4p/
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