Pressure’s on: High blood pressure tops Thailand’s health charts

High blood pressure has muscled its way to the top of the health pile, becoming the most common condition treated under Thailand’s universal healthcare services in 2023. That’s the latest from the National Health Security Office (NHSO), which has revealed the nation’s pulse.

NHSO’s top doc, Jadet Thammathataree, spilt the beans on an eye-watering 99.7 billion baht budget allocated for the fiscal year 2023, set aside to care for the 47.727 million Thais who qualify for the gold card scheme. That adds up to a tidy sum of 3,385.98 baht per person.

Breaking it down, 1,344.40 baht went to outpatient services, with inpatient care costing 1,477.01 baht per head. The gold card scheme, affectionately dubbed the gold card service, was a hive of activity with a whopping 170.39 million outpatient visits in 2023. That’s a sharp rise to 3.63 visits per…