ASEAN+3 to create regional UHC network

BANGKOK, December 11 (TNA) - Thailand and other nine member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as the 10-member bloc's three key dialogue partners, including China, Japan and South Korea, are brainstorming ideas to create and develop the so-called ASEAN+3 universal healthcare or UHC network. Thailand, thus, hosted an ASEAN+3 UHC Network forum in Bangkok on Tuesday, when Deputy Permanent Secretary for Public Health Dr. Chanwit Tarathep chaired the regional forum, in which over 40 health officials from the ASEAN+3 countries participated. Dr. Charnwit said that the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged all governments worldwide to include the UHC scheme on their national agenda to upgrade their people's lives and Thailand has been praised as a model of the developing world for successfully developing the UHC system for the public with the efficient management of national financial and fiscal bases to support the national UHC system and to protect the poor. The ASEAN+3 UHC Network forum, meanwhile, provided a platform for the participants to branstorm and exchange ideas, suggestions and proposed conclusions for the creation of the UHC Networks in the ASEAN and in the ASEAN+3. (TNA)