Education & Health
From The Report: Thailand 2012
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The education system will need serious improvement if it is to break out of the classic “middle-income trap”. Reforms on the table call for a move to learner-centred teaching and greater use of IT in the classroom, including a “One Tablet Per Child” programme. Neither will be a panacea; observers cite a chronic disregard of secondary education in favour of funding the primary and tertiary sectors. In the health sector, a decade-old universal coverage scheme is the bedrock of government policy. But several aspects of the system are ripe for reform, including an expensive fee-for-service model covering civil servants, and a government monopoly on a passel of pharmaceutical drugs.

This section features interviews with Reverend Brother Bancha Saenghiran, Rector, Assumption University; and Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, President, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS).

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Pushing ahead: Looking to the private sector to encourage new development
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Three years into a second decade of planned reforms, the Thai educational system is facing a growing public crisis of confidence as the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) performance is outpaced by a rapidly evolving economy. Compounded by six years of domestic political instability and a global economic crisis, public debate rages on the nation’s ability to compete in the wider global economy and more immediately in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) billed for 2015. INSTITUTING REFORM: Thailand…

Interview

A niche market: OBG talks to the Reverend Brother Bancha Saenghiran, Rector, Assumption University
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Interview: Reverend Brother Bancha Saenghiran What factors lie behind the emergence of private universities in the country? REVEREND BROTHER BANCHA SAENGHIRAN: Private universities have a long history in Thailand, gradually emerging to fill a gap in the market which public schools tend not to cover adequately. Private universities are generally established by foundations, companies, religious orders or rich philanthropists. Moreover, these schools have a long tradition: Assumption University, for…

Analysis

Beyond borders: International challenges and opportunities for the industry
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The advent of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, has presented Thailand and the Ministry of Education (MoE) with a shift in the region’s status quo that has required wholesale reform of the education system (see overview). Yet the AEC also presents opportunities for Thailand to capitalise on international demands for education across all tiers and is feeding national aspirations of being an educational centre. INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLING: Over 2.8m students are enrolled in international…

Overview

Developing welfare: A well-established universal health care system faces budget shortfalls
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Investment in Thailand’s health care services over the last 40 years have created an internationally lauded system and a paragon for lower- and middle-income economies. Yet as the nation’s economy has prospered, Thailand is facing a growing occurrence of chronic, non-communicable diseases among its ageing adult population, leading to a trend in treatments to raise the quality of life for patients. Beginning to show signs of strain, public health services are also expanding into private sector…

Interview

OBG talks to Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, President, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS)
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Interview: Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth How have the floods affected the operational outlook within the health sector? PRASERT PRASARTTONG-OSOTH: The number of inpatients we have received since the beginning of the floods has risen by 30%, although our outpatients have fallen by 50%. International business has ebbed and flowed with news of flooding in Bangkok, but given that inpatients generate on average 10 times the amount outpatients do, the profitability of the health care market may not have…

Analysis

Prospective producer: Government measures frustrate R&D investment, but the retail market continues to grow
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Valued at BT129bn ($4.11bn) in 2011 by the Board of Investment (BOI), Thailand’s pharmaceuticals industry continue to ride high on growing domestic and export demand. These prospects are expected to push market value to BT225bn ($7.18bn) by 2019, in which time Thailand’s own Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) is hoping to tap into the 2015 ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) to emerge as a leading exporter of generic pharmaceuticals in the region. The Ministry of Finance owns 90%…