The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) launched a training course on April 3 to update the knowledge and skills of leaders at all levels and increase their understanding of the evolution of the new social security system.

Ouk Somvithya, head of the NSSF, explained that the officials of the fund need to know more than just their own roles, but need to have a broad understanding of the joint work of the whole organisation.

He said the training presented new knowledge of the NSSF’s overall structure and the way it completes its tasks.

“In the past, the leaders of each unit work focused on their daily tasks, but their understanding of common principles and the funds standard documents was limited,” he added.

“This course was an opportunity to strengthen their capacity and provided basic knowledge and know-how of the core work of the NSSF so that leaders at all levels are more clearly involved in the development of the new social security system,” he continued.

He encouraged the organisation of workshops related to system updates every three months.

“These will provide information related to the progress of the implementation of the NSSF, which team leaders can share with their subordinates. This will allow them to establish new procedures that will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their work,” he said.

“Leaders at all levels who participate in these workshops will ask questions about the issues that they have encountered, or about areas of their work that they are lacking knowledge in. This will improve professionalism, quality and efficiency,” he added.

Pav Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW), said the process of using NSSF cards has improved a lot, and he has not received much recent criticism about the NSSF officials.

“The main complaints I receive are related to the behavior of medical staff,” he added.

“Some healthcare providers are not paying close attention to patients who use the NSSF cards. With that being said, the NSSF officials have removed many barriers and are facilitating better service with every passing month,” he continued.

He still insisted that ultimately the fun should expand the scope of protection for workers’ health issues unconditionally, noting that some diagnoses seem to be beyond the coverage afforded by the NSSF.