Prescription for progress: Thai institute’s medical faculty initiative tackles healthcare challenge

To address a national healthcare predicament, the Praboromarajchanok Institute (PI), a constituent of the Thailand Ministry of Public Health, laid out a blueprint to inaugurate its faculty of medicine. This move is expected to significantly contribute to the current deficit of medical professionals around the country.

Anutin Charnvirakul, the Minister of Public Health, held a meeting with operative officials of the ministry yesterday. He disclosed PI’s strategic plan to boost the density of medical personnel in their ranks, as was proposed by the institute.

Striving to mitigate the overcrowding teeming in major hospital facilities, the PI’s manifesto seeks to extend comprehensive healthcare services into local communities and tambon promotional hospitals. Furthermore, it purports to tap into local resources, cultivating health volunteers within each tambon, to function as practical nursing personnel; a force that will furbish future medical services with the promise of holistic care, reported Bangkok Post.

Anutin further elaborated on the multifaceted healthcare role envisaged for the to-be-formed PI’s medical faculty.

“The faculty of medicine will contribute to the betterment of public health services by nurturing an adept and professional workforce.”

Simultaneously, Soranit Siltharm, presiding over the subcommittee within the Consortium of Thai Medical Schools (CTMS), revealed that they are primed to commence intake procedures for a fresh batch of students. He confirmed the readiness of the 18 healthcare institutes embodied under the CTMS to admit a total of 2,380 pupils into medicine, dental surgery, veterinary medicine, and pharmacy programmes in the upcoming year.

Soranit clarified that although application criteria remain consistent, a significant alteration has been introduced to encourage diversity within the dental surgery programme.

“The CTMS has paved the way for students who have graduated from non-science disciplines to explore opportunities within the doctor of dental surgery programme.”

He further elucidated the concept of the Thailand Professional Aptitude Test 1, an examination administered by CTMS. The registration window for the test, which carries a fee of 800 baht (US$23), will span from September 1 to September 20. The aspirants are scheduled to sit for the examination on December 16.

Fleshing out the doctor shortage conundrum, Soranit pointed out that distribution anomalies are at the heart of the predicament.

“The skirmish is not for a higher influx of doctors but for a balanced distribution. The majority of the medical professionals remain clustered within city habitats.”

Consequently, escalating the numbers of medical programme enrolments should be aligned with the population proportions to realise a substantial solution.