Page 25 - ELITE PLUS MAGAZINE VOL10

Overall, pu“former drug users to society. The Public Health Ministry works closely with the community and family members of former drug users to create post-rehab monitoring programmes that help community residents and family members prevent patients from returning to drugs.”The numbers of drug users in Thailand last year fell to 1.4 million, from 2 million in 2003. One foreign celebrity who came for drug rehabilitation in Thailand was British musician Pete Doherty.Dr Boonruang was one of the architects of the “Health for All” policy in 2003. The policy touched on how to provide basic services to all citizens, focusing on vaccinations, lowering infant mortality and providing affordable treatment. One of its features was the mor noi (little doctors) project. Mor noi are local volunteers trained to monitor thehealth of villagers. Each volunteer looks after 10 families.“Overall, public health care in Thailand has improved since the Health for All policy started,” he said. Infant mortality has decreased while the life expectancy of Thais has improved, to 76 years from 58 for males, and 78 years from 65 for females.Thailand offers some of the world’s best value for health care. Major procedures can be 50-70% cheaper than in the US, according to Patients beyond Borders, a medical tourism guidebook. The country had up to 1.2 million medical tourists last year.Yet there is a worry that public health care might decline after the AEC becomes active in January. A major concern is that hospitals in Singapore or Malaysia will woo doctors, nurses and dentists with better financial packages and salaries.blic health care in Thailand has improvedsince the Health for Allpolicy star”tedElite+ 23