Less than 10 days after the Prayut Chan-o-cha government implemented the Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients (Ucep) scheme which requires private hospitals to accept emergency patients within 72 hours, Natee Sarawaree suffered a cerebral haemorrhage after a fall. Natee, a housing rights activist, received brain surgery at the private hospital and recovered. Under the original scheme, private hospital operators gave cooperation on a voluntary basis. Before Ucep, participating private hospital operators made reimbursements on a diagnosis-related gauge. It requires an attitude change on the part of the private hospital operators in accepting the scheme and becoming more active in providing welfare, not just making profits.

Source: Bangkok Post April 15, 2017 21:22 UTC