Thailand has had a universal health-care coverage scheme since 2002. In the second of our series on health financing, Apiradee Treerutkuarkul examines how renal-replacement therapy for chronic end-stage renal disease is straining the scheme’s resources.
In 1998 21-year-old Thunyalak Boonsumlit fell ill so her worried parents took her to hospital. “I thought I had food poisoning,” she recalls. The doctor, however, told her she had acute kidney disease and would die without immediate treatment. There was more bad news: although her parents were insured by Thailand’s Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme, this scheme only covers dependants up to the age of 20. Boonsumlit was treated for a month and sent home.