Health ministry seeks tax perks to fight non-communicable diseases

The Public Health Ministry aims to offer tax incentives to individuals to help fight against Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), according to Minister Somsak Thepsutin.
He said the goal is to drive the prevention of NCDs, as that is always better than working on cures as a form of treatment. The ministry’s records show that about 400,000 people die each year from NCDs in Thailand.
“We should aggressively campaign so the public will know how to avoid NCDs,” he said.
NCDs are also known as chronic diseases that include cancer, cerebrovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.
The World Health Organization says tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diets and air pollution all increase the risk of dying from an NCD.
Mr Somsak said the ministry will use one million village health volunteers nationwide to campaign on NCD prevention, such as recommending a diet dubbed the “Eat wisely and not get sick” campaign.
If the number of patients with NCDs can be reduced, it would help reduce the government’s health expenses, such as those incurred from medicines, worth about 130 billion baht a year, as well as other indirect expenses of 1.5 trillion baht a year, he said.
In total, expenses related to the NCDs are estimated at 1.6 trillion baht, he noted.
Mr Somsak said the latest discussion with the National Health Security Office found that if such expenses could be reduced, there should be compensation for village health volunteers. The ministry will consult experts to see if the idea can be implemented.
“If we want to reduce sickness and deaths caused by NCDs, there must be both positive and negative aspects. One measure is to provide incentives to our health volunteers, while another is to offer tax incentives for people who take good care of their health. The issue will be considered at our meeting on Monday,” he said.
The Department of Disease Control has been collecting ideas on how to draft the country’s first-ever NCD bill to promote good practices for preventing their development.
Initially, a tax intensive is likely to be provided to food manufacturers who have successfully reduced the amount of salt or sugar in their products, which are among the causes of NCDs. Tax incentives for individuals are a new idea that also needs to be discussed, he added.