section_path: Demographics/Health
section_name: Health
paragraph_text: Health
  
  Thailand ranks world's sixth, and Asia's first in the 2019 Global Health Security Index of global health security capabilities in 195 countries, making it the only developing country on the world's top ten. Thailand had 62 hospitals accredited by Joint Commission International. In 2002, Bumrungrad became the first hospital in Asia to meet the standard.
  
  Health and medical care is overseen by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), with total national expenditures on health amounting to 4.3 per cent of GDP in 2009. Non-communicable diseases form the major burden of morbidity and mortality, while infectious diseases including malaria and tuberculosis, as well as traffic accidents, are also important public health issues.
  
  In December 2018 the interim parliament voted to legalise the use of cannabis for medical reasons, making Thailand the first Southeast Asian country to allow the use of medical cannabis.