People queue to buy subsidised Covid-19 coronavirus rapid antigen (ATK) tests at a Government Pharmaceutical Organisation pharmacy in Bangkok in Jan, 2022. (Photo: AFP/VNA)Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai Ministry of Public Health said the country spent a total of 444 billion THB(2.8 billion USD) on public health tocontain the spread of COVID-19 and vaccinate its population during the three years of the pandemic.
The ministry said that thecost of testing and treating people for COVID-19 accounted for more than half of thetotal spending, at 260 billion THB, while vaccine procurement and distributionexpenses were estimated at 78 billion THB.
The government also spent57.5 billion THB in compensation to victims and as incentives to medicalpersonnel in the three years.
The government coveredthe cost of treatment and vaccination for all citizens between 2020 and 2022,with the bulk of the funding coming from the annual budget. SoutheastAsia’s second-largest economy also borrowed 1.5 trillion THB to stimulate theeconomy and partly cover the cost of emergency public health services.
Thailand, the firstcountry outside China to report a COVID-19 case, was successful in containing thevirus spread during the early stages with a nationwide lockdown and closed borders, before a wave of infections swept the nation during the outbreaks of theDelta and Omicron variants.
The country reported 4.7million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 33,911 deaths as of Feb 25, the World HealthOrganization reported./.
