E-government services in Thailand have taken a major step forward with the launch of a new website that will be a one-stop portal through which people can access all available electronic services offered by government organisations, with a single sign-on.
The Cabinet has also approved a name change for Government Information Technology Services (GITS). Before the end of the current quarter, it will become the e-Government Agency (eGA), with the aim of driving the creation and adoption of e-government services. The manager of GITS' Government Application Management Department, Ponpiboon Satangput, said the e-government portal, at www.egov.go.th and www.egovernment.go.th, will offer all the e-services of government agencies, as a means of simplifying equal and universal access to information and services.
Thailand has defined its vision to increase and improve its use of ICT to help develop a stronger economy as well as boost social equality and environmental friendliness by 2020, as part of the Smart Thailand concept.
Speaking at a public hearing hosted by Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Chadamas Thuvasethakul, Nectec's deputy executive director , said ICT can be used to strengthen the kingdom's economy and reduce the social gap by boosting the public's knowledge and the quantity of smart human capital through increasing the availability of high-speed Internet.
Read more: ICT cited as key to stronger, more unified Thailand
We all know the feeling of waiting endlessly in a queue at a public hospital.
The boredom-inducing delays increase because of the difficulty of finding health records, or setting up new ones, when attending a hospital for the first time.
The National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) is stepping up its development of knowledge bases and intelligent tools to support its Healthy Thailand project, which is expected to be complete in 2018.
The aim of the project is to increase the awareness and monitoring of personal health issues and to generally improve the quality of life for Thai people on the basis of smart health and smart living.
Speaking at an event entitled "Thailand on the verge of 3G", Sebastian Cabello of the GSM Association (GSMA) said that studies across 120 countries have shown the value of mobile broadband; that for every 10 percent increase in penetration, there is an economic growth of 1.3 percent.