Bangkok: The Ministry of Finance is partnering with the Ministry of Public Health to integrate health and welfare information as a strategy to enhance welfare, facilitate treatment, improve access to funding, and address drug procurement and tax fraud issues. Mr. Lawaron Sangsanit, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, and Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health, have formalized this collaboration by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This initiative aims to link data for policy implementation, creating a comprehensive database for 60 million people, including welfare cards, civil servant data, and more.
According to Thai News Agency, this large data lake will enable the Ministry of Finance to gain insights into Thai behavior, aiding in credit scoring and access to capital. It will also facilitate the implementation of the Negative Income Tax (NIT), targeting support for low-income earners over the next two to three years. The collaboration is expected to lead to the development of welfare measures and policies tailored to specific groups and regions, ensuring efficient and cost-effective policy implementation.
The Ministry of Finance is advocating for the 2026 budget to match the 2025 budget level, set at 3.78 trillion baht, to prevent excessive budget increases and additional borrowing. By linking data from various tax collection departments, transparency in tax tracking will be enhanced, particularly when discrepancies arise between import tax notifications and income reports.
Dr. Opas emphasized that data integration will improve the government's understanding of physical and financial health, support the 30-baht universal healthcare policy, and prevent drug-buying scams. The initiative will also involve enhanced security measures for data management, including the use of biometric data for foreign medical workers, as they do not have 13-digit national ID cards. This will bolster public health management efficiency.