The health workforce and health system development Viroj Tangcharoensathien et al.
12 subdistrict health centres serving a typical catchment area of approximately 50 000 population – serves as a platform for scaling up public health interventions.
Despite the fact that in the 1980s Thailand was a low-income country with a gross national income per capita of only 710 United States dollars (US$), fiscal space for investment in the district health system was made possible by a temporary decline in investment in infrastructure at the provincial level.
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Health workforce expansion
To create a functioning PHC system, it is essential for diagnostics and medicines to be available. However, the most critical resource is the health workforce. In Thailand, the rapid expansion of the PHC infrastructure called not just for an expanded health workforce, but also for strategies to ensure health workforce distribution to rural communities.
Since 1974, Thailand has had special tracks for recruiting rural students to medical and nursing careers in return for allowing them to work in their home communities. The system was the first national programme of mandatory rural service – for a three-year period – for new medical and nursing graduates. In later years, this rural bonding policy was extended to dentistry and pharmacy graduates. In addition, the Collaborative Project to Increase the Production of Rural Doctors (CPIRD) in phase one (1995–2004) was approved by the Thai Cabinet. Twelfth-grade students who were residents of a given province were eligible to sit for an examination under the CPIRD track. Those who passed went on to spend one year studying basic sciences, two years pursuing premedical studies in a university and three years doing clinical practice in teaching hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Public Health (34 in total in 2013). These were all accredited regional and provincial teaching hospitals where the teaching was conducted by medical staff.
While the CPIRD continued to phases two and three (2005–2014), a programme known as One District, One Doctor (ODOD, 2005–2015) was approved by the Cabinet to further strengthen the recruitment of rural students into medical schools.
Students eligible for the ODOD programme have to be residents of a given district, unlike CPIRD students, who have to reside within a given province.
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A system of government bonding is in place. All graduates recruited through the normal track – the national entrance examination – and the CPIRD have to render mandatory service in a district hospital for three years or risk a penalty of US$ 13 000. ODOD programme graduates have to serve for 12 years in their home towns or face a penalty of US$ 65 000 if they fail to comply.
The mandatory rural service was accompanied by financial incentives, in addition to the basic salary and per diem while on duty. A monthly hardship allowance for doctors, amounting to US$ 60–88, was introduced in 1975 and substantially revised in 1997. In response to an internal brain drain from the public to the private sector, a monthly allowance of US$ 250 was introduced in 1995 for those who chose not to engage in private practice.
Medical schools outside Bangkok – 11 out of a total of 19 – played a critical role in producing doctors for service in rural areas. Their production capacity increased from less than 35% of the country’s medical graduates in 2002 to nearly 44% in 2012.
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A temporary laddered nursing programme was introduced in 1982 in response to the rapid expansion of district health systems. Students received a diploma as technical nurses after a two-year course of study. At the end of the four-year mandatory rural service, these technical nurses received two more years of training to obtain a Bachelor in Nursing. The laddered curriculum was well planned and was approved by the Thai Nursing and Midwifery Council. To fulfil the growing demand for nursing care, since 1990 all stand-alone midwifery courses leading to a diploma have been integrated into the four-year Bachelor in Nursing degree. Competency in midwifery is required of all registered nurses. To reinforce their commitment to rural health service, dedicated health workers are given social recognition by being granted an annual award from a renowned organization or foundation. Professional career advancement is another key incentive. Since 2007, district hospital directors can be promoted to a level 9 position – equivalent to deputy director general – on a scale in which the highest-ranking position is 11. In 1991 the maximum promotion was to level 8.
One of the strengths of the Thai health system has been the presence of a high ratio of nurses to physicians. Nurses’
Bull World Health Organ 2013;91:874–880 | doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.13.120774 875
Lessons from the field
contributions to the success of maternal and child health-care programmes have been traditionally acknowledged and recognized. In the f