Sirindhorn National Medical Rehabilitstion Centre (SNMRC)

         The centre has been in operation since 1988 with responsibilities on development in medical rehabilitation for the patients and people with disabilities. All particular works have been conducted through research and development program and technical supporting activities on the basis of tertiary medical rehabilitation services provided in the center.

         The rehabilitation facilities are out-patient and in-patient service. There are about 100 patients attend daily at the out-patient department while the occupancy rate of the 60 beds for in-patient is 72%. The average length of stay of each admission for rehabilitation program is 20.3 days. The common diagnosis of in-patient are hemiplegia from cerebrovascular disease, paraplegia and quadriplegia from spinal cord lesion, people with acquired limb lost and other musculoskeletal problems.

         A rehabilitation program usually composes of physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, independent living training, nursing and doctor care whereas some may need protheses or orthoses and/or other assistive devices. The multidisciplinary with customer-focused approach has been employed.

         Apart from the above responsibilities, the SNMRC is also responsible for procurement and distribution of assistive devices (wheelchair, gait aids, prosthesis, orthosis, low vision aids, hearing aids, etc.) to the hospitals all over the country. So that these hospitals are able to provide those devices to people with disabilities regarding to the Thai Rehabilitation Acts, 1990.

         As it is known that the accessibility to rehabilitation services of people with disabilities in Thailand is still very poor, so the community-based rehabilitation (CBR) model is used to improve such a situation. Moreover, the CBR concept also encourage the active participation of people with disabilities, family and their community in arranging and solving the problem. This concept has already distributed throughout the whole country while the SNMRC act as a technical support center to facilitate CBR model development in the provinces.

         Concerning the manpower development, the center has arranged many yearly short-course training for health personnel working in the country such as the course for rehabilitation nurse, prosthetic & orthotic technicians, health workers, volunteer and family members. The research and development usually pay attention to rehabilitation model development with regarded to quality and efficiency. In cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the center also work to support the development of the manufacturing of the assistive technology in Thailand.