Healthcare comes at a value, however there are those that are working to extend entry and scale back prohibitive prices. A number of international locations have raised the concept of common well being protection as a part of public well being and social welfare. Amongst people who have achieved their targets is Thailand.
The group of docs who spearheaded the hassle to deliver well being protection to the lots and guarantee equitable entry to healthcare in rural areas have been chosen to obtain this 12 months’s Ramon Magsaysay Award.
Thailand’s path to common well being protection
In line with the World Well being Group, common well being protection (UHC) entails “all folks gaining access to the complete vary of high quality well being providers they want, when and the place they want them, with out monetary hardship.” Attaining UHC is without doubt one of the targets for reaching the Sustainable Growth Targets by 2030.
Common well being protection stays out of attain in lots of international locations, notably for poor residents or these in rural areas. Thailand has made nice strides on this space: common well being protection was launched in 2002 and in the present day the nation has a system that gives healthcare (largely freed from cost) to all Thai residents.
The novel change in Thai healthcare was the results of a few years of wrestle by devoted Thai docs. Their efforts have ensured sufficient and reasonably priced healthcare for all, notably these residing in rural areas, as a component of social justice.
A lot of this was achieved by means of the voluntary work of Thai docs. A few of them joined collectively to kind the Rural Medical doctors Motion, which mixes the Rural Medical doctors Society (RDS) and the Rural Medical doctors Basis (RDF).RDS is a extra casual organisation, whereas RDF is a proper non-governmental organisation made up of docs working in public hospitals.
The journey started across the Nineteen Sixties. At the moment, Thai society was witnessing a drain of medical professionals overseas, notably to the US. To counter this, the federal government developed a scheme that offered sponsored medical training in trade for obligatory service for medical professionals in rural areas. This made extra docs notice the necessity to take corrective measures to enhance healthcare within the countryside.
Within the Seventies, a wave of democracy swept by means of Thailand. Socio-economic justice, democracy and freedom have been on the forefront of this motion. Amongst those that joined the motion have been younger, idealistic docs who sought to handle inequalities in society and healthcare.
Some docs organised medical groups for scholar protesters. In 1974, college students have been despatched to rural areas to research poverty and poor healthcare. Former RDS president Vichai Chokevivat shared his expertise: “Once I was a rural physician, I noticed many individuals falling unwell and virtually penniless. They needed to promote their farmland and even their daughter to get sufficient cash to pay for his or her medical remedy. It was such a painful and bitter expertise that we dreamed of offering free medical care to the sick.”
The coed motion was suppressed in 1978. Many medical college students retreated to the agricultural areas the place they’d labored. To proceed their work informally, the Federation of Rural Medical doctors turned the RDS. In 1982, most of the similar docs who have been behind the RDS organized and registered the RDF as a proper umbrella for his or her packages.
Among the outstanding leaders of the RDS have been activists, together with Mr. Chokevivat, Choochai Supawongse, Kriengsak Wacharanukulkiet, Supat Hasuwannakit and the late Sanguan Nitayarumphong. The primary goal of the RDS was to help public well being providers in rural areas and unfold public well being consciousness. RDS docs advocate for political reforms and contribute to well being governance. It additionally continued to advertise democracy and spoke out in opposition to corruption throughout the Nineteen Nineties.
In the meantime, the extra formal RDF implements helpful well being measures by means of official channels. It additionally works with different civil society and worldwide organisations, together with native networks of nurses and pharmacists, in addition to the World Well being Organisation.
The award was given to the Rural Medical doctors Motion in recognition of “its historic and persevering with contribution to the well being of its folks and, maybe extra importantly, to their recognition and realization as residents with primary rights. By championing the agricultural poor, the motion ensured that nobody was left behind because the nation strikes in direction of larger financial prosperity and modernization,” because the award textual content reads.
What’s the Ramon Magsaysay Award?
The Ramon Magsaysay Award, thought-about considered one of Asia’s highest honors, is given in recognition of “greatness of spirit demonstrated in selfless service to the folks of Asia.”
The award was established by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in 1957 in honor of the late Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay. It was first offered in 1958. Till 2008, it was awarded in six classes: authorities service; public service; group management; peace and worldwide understanding; rising management; and journalism; literature and inventive communication arts. Apart from rising management, all different classes have been discontinued.
So far, 322 people and 26 organizations from 22 Asian international locations have been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Prize. Different organizations which have gained the award lately embrace Indonesian social documentary firm Watchdog Media Mandiri (2021), the Instructional Theatre Affiliation of the Philippines (2017), Laotian emergency providers group Vientiane Rescue (2016), Indonesian charity Dompet Dhuafa (2016), and the Japan Abroad Cooperation Volunteers (2016), a world community of volunteers that promotes peace and worldwide solidarity.
In line with a authorities press launch, 25 people or organizations in Thailand have obtained the Ramon Magsaysay Award.
This 12 months’s different laureates are Japanese filmmaker and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki; Bhutanese Phuntsho Karma, a former Buddhist monk, scholar and social employee; Vietnamese physician Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, who works with the Vietnam Affiliation for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA); and Indonesian conservationist Farhan Farwiza, founding father of Yayasan Hutan Alam dan Lingkungan Aceh (HAkA), devoted to preserving the Leuser ecosystem.
The 2024 laureates will likely be honored at a ceremony in Manila this November.
Revealed – September 12, 2024 02:17 pm IST
