Thailand’s New Regulation on Telemedicine Service Standards in Medical Facilities

1. Background
Telemedicine services have become one of the alternative care options for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. More and more services are being offered by private hospitals and clinics with support from digital healthcare applications. Now, anyone can access healthcare services at the touch of their finger. Previously, telemedicine services were not specifically regulated. Hence, issues concerning healthcare service safety, standards and quality have arisen, which demand discussion on the solutions to such issues by the relevant authorities.

In our previous article “Launch of the Practical Guideline on Telemedicine in Thailand” in NO&T Thailand Legal Update No. 4 (August 2020), we provided an update in respect of the Telemedicine Guidelines, which focused on the guidelines for licensed medical practitioners to provide telemedicine services and briefly mentioned a draft Notification of Ministry of Public Health Re: Standard of Service in respect of Medical Facility via Telemedicine System from the Ministry of Public Health to further regulate and legalize the telemedicine business in medical facilities. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Public Health published the Notification Re: Standards of Service in respect of Medical Facility via Telemedicine System dated 18 January 2021 in the Royal Gazette (the “Telemedicine Notification”), which came into force on 2 February 2021, further legalizing telemedicine in Thailand.

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