The Appropriate Number of Physicians for Thailand

Abstract

The magnitude of health problems of a nation can be measured by estimates of its burden of diseases. This study drew up criteria that was defined primarily by the targeted outcome (decreased burden of diseases) and management resources (number of physicians and total expenditures on health), based on information of 193 member countries reported by the World Health Organization. The international physicians conceptual framework was used primarily to decide which country had an efficient health management performance and secondly as a projection tool to estimate the appropriate number of physicians.

The results show that “Thailand needs to triple or quadruple the number of physicians and per capita total expenditures in order to half its burden of diseases”. The Thai society must be made to recognize the huge burden on our physicians and the need to find ways to increase the number of physicians to fulfil the needs of the Thai health care system.