Bangkok – The National Mental Health Board is set to push for the first 20-year national plan to promote mental well-being in Thailand.
Deputy Prime Minister Gen Chatchai Sarikulya recently attended a board meeting where he was told that significant progress had been made to expand mental health treatment coverage regionally. Since the effort began in 2014, patients gaining access to mental health treatments have doubled from 738 to 1,674, due to improvements in public health services to recognize people’s rights to mental health care.
The meeting resolved to develop a 20-year national plan to promote mental health in Thailand, in line with the government’s Thailand 4.0 agenda and the United Nations’ development goals.
The plan will involve cooperation from both public and private sectors and will be proposed to the Cabinet in June for consideration. The 2008 Mental Health Act will also be updated to reflect modern society and to allow mental health officers to work more effectively.
