Govt warned that jobless will soar

Prominent economists have advised the government to urgently introduce measures to help the country cope with rising unemployment caused by the global economic slump.

They have suggested measures to help the unemployed, ensure better allocation of health care resources and proposed a campaign to reduce alcohol consumption.

Ammar Siamwalla, a board member of the National Health Security Office (NHSO), said the proposals will be put to the National Health Committee at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Friday.

"The government needs to immediately put these measures into practice to ease the impact of the global financial crisis on as many as two million people who could be unemployed by the end of 2009," he said at a seminar organised by the Health Systems Research Institute.

In the first quarter of next year alone, about 880,000 workers were expected to lose their jobs as the economic meltdown continues to affect the country in many sectors, including tourism.

Mr Ammar forecast economic growth of only 0.1% next year.

Despite the gloomy outlook, Mr Ammar believed Thailand still has enough time to deal with the domino effect of the global crisis on local business and social sectors.

He said additional budget funding would be needed for the Social Security Office (SSO), which runs healthcare schemes for employees of private companies, and the National Health Security Office, which aids the unemployed.

A financial injection was essential because the unemployed would lose health benefits due them under the SSO scheme, which requires both employers and employees to contribute part of their income to the fund.

He recommended the SSO reduce contributions from workers and employers by 25 billion baht. The government would have to make up for the loss of the amount, he said.

Unlike the economic crisis in 1997, the present situation still allowed the new government to run a budget deficit and spend money on populist policies to help people in rural areas.

But he warned the administration to spend the budget allocated for the populist policy wisely, otherwise it would only increase the people's indebtedness.

Mr Ammar said the budget per head for the universal healthcare scheme for the 2010 fiscal year should also be increased. The 2010 fiscal year starts in October next year. Funding would be finalised by the end of January, he said.

The NHSO received about 96.6 billion baht to cover 48 million people under the universal healthcare scheme last year.

The director of the International Health Policy Programme, Viroj Tangcharoensathien, called for a review of the investment on public health facilities under the previous government's megaprojects.

"The government would do better by improving primary healthcare in remote areas for local people" than spending money on tertiary care at large scale hospitals and medical colleges of universities in big cities, he said.

The shift was needed because the unemployed would probably return home rather than stay in urban areas.

The previous government increased the investment budget for public health facilities to 103 billion baht from its original plan of 45 billion baht, citing a strong demand for healthcare.

Dr Viroj said the administration should not neglect a campaign to reduce alcohol consumption, as about 6% of total household expenditure went on alcoholic beverages.

He recommended an increase in excise tax on alcoholic products.