That’s because the Southeast Asian country in 2002 adopted universal health coverage, moving away from a system funded primarily by out-of-pocket payments to one funded by a mix of taxes and insurance contributions.
The result is that those Thais who have diabetes – nearly 10% of adults in the country’s 68 million residents – have ready access to the medicines they need not only to survive, but to stave off complications.
“Under the national health care scheme, they have a system where anybody who has the need for treatment is offered the treatment free of charge,” says WHO Public Health Administrator Dr Nima Asgari-Jirhandeh.
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地方卫生中心对糖尿病和其它疾病患者开展常规检测和治疗。
Local health centres routinely test and treat patients for diabetes and other diseases.
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“在需要时，这些病人会被转到区级医院进一步接受治疗，”他补充到。
“If need be, they are referred to a district hospital for further treatment,” he adds.
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糖尿病可殃及儿童和成人
Diabetes can affect children and adults
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糖尿病可影响到所有年龄组人群，然而在得到适当处置时不会对人们一生的生活能力产生影响。
Diabetes can affect people of all ages, yet – if properly managed – need not affect a person’s ability to live a full life.
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26岁的Khun Ni患有一型糖尿病，对此她十分清楚。
Khun Ni, 26, has type 1 diabetes and knows that well.