Public Health
- Making the 30-baht universal healthcare program completely free. The Budget Bureau criticized the move. The government later cut the universal healthcare program budget by over 3.8 billion baht, providing a subsidy of just 1,899 baht per head, compared to the previously proposed figure of 2,089 baht. The number of eligible people was cut from 48 million to 46 million people.
- License the production and sale of patented HIV and heart disease drugs without the permission of the foreign patent owners. Lack of public health budget was cited as the reasons for breaking the patents. "It has stunned our industry," said the President of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PReMA). The Minister of Public Health claimed that pharmaceutical industry was reaping "colossal" profits. Under World Trade Organization rules, a government is allowed to break patents under after declaring a "national emergency." Breaking the patents of Abbott's HIV treatment Kaletra and Sanofi-Aventis' blood clot drug Plavix was estimated to save Thailand US$24 million a year.
Read more about this topic: Policies Of The Surayud Government
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