The RSA Volunteer Network is a network consisting of doctors, nurses, and allied professionals from both the public and private sectors who come together to provide safe medical abortion services according to the guidelines of the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. This is done using medication or vacuum aspiration in accordance with legal indications and medical council regulations, with support and facilitation from the Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health.
In October 2015, the RSA network had 30 volunteer doctors, supported by funding from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) to organize meetings to enhance understanding, provide encouragement, and expand the network to various regions. As a result, by July 2018, the network had increased the number of volunteer doctors to 122 and expanded the membership of nurses and allied professionals to a total of 321 people to jointly drive operations according to the RSA network’s mission.
Having the RSA network allows personnel involved with unplanned pregnancies and abortion to support each other’s work and provide encouragement to overcome the challenges of providing services, which face significant obstacles from the negative attitudes of people in society to some extent. This has resulted in an increase in abortion service units and more individuals facing unplanned pregnancies being referred from the unplanned pregnancy consultation line 1663 and other service units entering the services.
The disclosure of the identities of safe abortion service providers within the health service system under the RSA network has resulted in the support system in Thailand being driven forward. The abortion medication (Medabon®) has been included in the national essential drug list, sub-list J(1), followed by the National Health Security Office (NHSO) supporting compensation for services to prevent unsafe abortions using vacuum aspiration or medication at a rate not exceeding 3,000 baht per case in the fiscal year 2018, as well as driving support for semi-permanent contraceptive service fees for those over 20 years old after abortion in the fiscal year 2019.
In the near future, the Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health, and ThaiHealth will support the RSA network to continuously develop the network by expanding the personnel network to cover the entire country more comprehensively. They will also develop the network to have strengths as credible public health and social personnel in the system, using online channels to communicate and create understanding in society about safe abortion.