The National Health Security Office (NHSO) says it will no longer compensate people experiencing side-effects of Covid-19 vaccines, except gold-card universal healthcare members.
Deputy secretary-general Atthaporn Limpanyalert said the Covid-19 situation is starting to ease and will soon be deemed an endemic, so the NHSO board on July 4 decided to review the treatment compensation criteria.
Under the revised criteria, compensation for those feeling the side effects of Covid-19 vaccines will only be paid to members of the gold card scheme, instead of all schemes previously.
The money will be drawn from national health security funds, not from the budget under the emergency loan decree, Mr Atthaporn said.
"As for people who received Covid-19 vaccines from July 4 and developed allergies or side effects, the NHSO will look after those who are gold-card holders," he said.
"Those who are members of other schemes can seek compensation from the schemes they are entitled to claim from," he said. "The NHSO has revised the criteria in line with the government's policy to downgrade the pandemic to endemic status."
Claims for compensation under other health schemes filed with the NHSO after July 4 will be forwarded to relevant agencies, he said.
He added that as of Friday, a total of 21,139 people had filed claims seeking compensation under various healthcare schemes nationwide.
Of them, 12,065 are subscribers of the gold-card scheme while some 4,691 are members of the Social Security Fund and some 3,910 are civil servants. Of the total, 17,559 have met the criteria for compensation, he said.
Over 2 billion baht has been paid to the relatives of 4,441 people who died or those who have become disabled, as well as, some 505 who have lost their organs; and 11,331 who were injured, he said.