Bangkok--7 Feb--Thailand’s National Health Assembly
The Fourth Thailand’s National Health Assembly under the theme “Coping with Disaster…Managing Ill-Being” at United Nation Conference Centre has grasped the international attentions in both contents and the concept of having public participation in drafting health policy.
“I’m amazed by the diversity of participation in this assembly. In other words, I could say it is stunning” said Dr. Rakhal Gaitonde, a project manager of National Rural Health Mission of India. He elaborates his impression that “there are participants from various sectors and field in the society for example: the nurse, the nun, the police, the local radio broadcaster and everyone of them speak in specific things in their own field and these make the discussion interesting and very useful indeed”. He is also admired the concept of sufficiency economy which he has seen from how the assembly has embraced this philosophy in practice.
Dr.Patrick Kadama, the director of policy and strategy of African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation (ACHEST), expresses his impression in the coordination, the assembly management and the improvement in the concept of participation and the clearer path of policy-making in this assembly. He said that “the way of putting networks together in this year assembly very proper and useful”. He is also interested in how the team manages to get high and effective collaboration like this and he would like to bring this method back to use in his country, Uganda.
“How the people in the assembly respects to technical evidence called my attention to compare it with my country” said Ms.Sarah Escorel, a senior researcher of FIOCRUZ, Brazil. She states that in Thailand’s National Health Assembly, there is a room for scientific and technical evidence to fit in which she considered as a very useful method to be practiced in every consensus process.
Ms.Jashodhara Dasgupta, a health policy-maker of Indian Government, addresses her observation on the assembly common grounds; 1.the success in privileging technical evidence 2.have mutually understanding on moral ground. She adds that “I found these common grounds useful as they help make the policy tangible and practical because it is compromising between various stakeholders and could be considered as negotiated policy which differs from other ordinary NGOs practice”. However, she still would like to see more argumentative discussions.
“I think this assembly is better than the World Health Assembly I used to attend because here there is a very clear and powerful local participation: so it is a real bottom-up process.” said Prof.Dr.Abul Kalam Azad, the representative from Ministry of Health & Family Welfare of Bangladesh government. He admits that he is very impressed in Thai participants and Thailand’s National Health working networks as he can feel that “the people are proud to be their local representatives and the participants of the assembly”. He said that the heart and spirit that the people put into the event is the crucial element to make this assembly successful.