Pol.Gen. Aswin Kwanmuang, Governor of Bangkok, revealed that Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) had given great importance to policy formulation on healthcare, health promotion and health development. Additionally, the BMA had been working to push forward this policy into implementation that yields tangible results as it recognized that good health is one of the key factors for good quality of life. However, good policy that can solve problems and meet the real needs of the public comes from public participation and involvement in public consultation where all stakeholders, who are affected from policy implementation, can directly express their ideas and opinions.
In this regard, the BMA, in collaboration with Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI), Thailand National Health Commission Office (NHCO) and other network organizations and partners, organized the 1st Bangkok Health Assembly on November 26, 2020. It aimed at seeking consensus to jointly find solutions for problems faced by people in Bangkok. At that time, the meeting had limited the number of participants to only 335 as it was held during the time when control measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 were being imposed. Nevertheless, video conferencing signals were connected to all district areas so that people could widely share their points of view. Live-stream video was also broadcast on Facebook fan page of the BMA. Members of Bangkok Health Assembly reached the consensus in 2 agenda with full agreement on 1. Bangkok Health Charter and 2. Management of street vendors, hawkers and stalls and the use of public space in Bangkok.
Governor of Bangkok also added that the 2021 Bangkok Health Assembly would be held soon. In this regard, the BMA invites people and network partners to join in submitting public policy issue on health to be selected as agenda in the meeting. This will lead to participatory development of public policy on health which will be truly beneficial for all groups of people. The proposed public policy issues should involve a large number of people, have possibility to create cooperation, and can be moved forward and transformed into practice. The deadline is on Monday, March 15, 2021.
People and network partners can submit issue proposal via 2 channels: 1. Fill in information via QR Code and 2. Visit https://qrgo.page.link/sGyof. Form can be downloaded at https://qrgo.page.link/8SvDo.
