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Subscribers to the state s universal healthcare programme will be required to provide smart ID cards to verify their identity when receiving services at participating clinics and hospitals in Bangkok from Jan 1 next year.
However, Sakchai Kanjanawatana, secretary-general of the National Health Security Office (NHSO), said the use of smart ID cards in conjunction with the healthcare, or gold card , scheme, as part of the verification will apply in the capital only.
He said that the updated verification process is aimed at preventing fraud by those who are not covered by the universal healthcare scheme, and a pilot test of the new system by the navy-run Somdech Phra Pinklao Hospital and BTU-Medical Dental Clinic had proved successful.