The cabinet yesterday approved a budget of about 15 billion baht for the National Health Security Office (NHSO) to spend on healthcare for those affected by Covid-19 and any medical treatment for Covid-19 patients.
Government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said the budget would be allocated to clinics under the NHSO which were responsible for Covid-19 screening and medical treatment for Covid-19 patients.
Mr Anucha said the cabinet also approved an additional 129 million baht for the Public Health Ministry to buy 11 biosafety mobile unit vehicles and 11 mobile laboratory vehicles for use in August and September of this year.
Furthermore, he said the cabinet approved a budget of around 1.58 billion baht for health volunteers across the country who have played a key role in the fight against Covid-19.
The money would be paid to them for three months from July to September this year.
Jadej Thammatacharee, secretary-general of the NHSO, said a total of 150 Covid-19 vaccine recipients had already been compensated for suspected adverse reactions to vaccinations, at a combined cost of 991,700 baht over the past couple of weeks.
"Anyone with any health conditions believed to have been caused by the vaccine is eligible to submit a request for financial compensation without having to wait for results of a probe," said Dr Jadej said after a meeting with the NHSO's 13 regional offices on the compensation programme.
"This is only preliminary assistance, so there is no need to wait until it is proven what the real cause of the problem is … if it is later proven not to be the vaccine, the money won't have to be returned," he said.
Of the 150 people already compensated, most (131) experienced mild symptoms, while 15 saw moderate symptoms and four were serious enough to require hospital admission, Dr Jadej said.