Bangkok – The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) has officially launched a project to reduce patient waiting time and ease hospital congestion by allowing patients to obtain prescription medicine from pharmacies close to their homes. The project aims to cover 50 hospitals and 500 pharmacies by next year.
On Tuesday, the Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, together with the Deputy Minister of Public Health, Sathit Pitutecha, attended the launch of the project. After seeing a doctor, patients can now choose to collect their prescription medicine from pharmacies, instead of waiting in long hospital queues.
The first phase of this project covers patients with diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, mental illnesses and common chronic diseases. This group of patients can obtain prescription medicine from pharmacies near their homes. Currently, 35 hospitals and 300 pharmacies in Bangkok and other provinces have registered with the ministry to participate in this project.
At Buddhachinaraj Hospital in Phitsanulok province, registered diabetes and high blood pressure patients can obtain prescription medicine from 17 pharmacies in the province. To help pharmacists dispense the right amount of medicine, patients are to provide them with information about their existing prescription. If patients fail to obtain their prescription medicine from pharmacies within the given time frame, they have to contact the hospital’s outpatient department. Patients with a universal healthcare card or a 30-baht gold card are not required to pay for the medicine.
At Roi Et Hospital in Roi Et province, patients can receive their prescription medicine from nine pharmacies in the province. The hospital’s medication management processes includes dispensing and delivering prescription medicines for individual patients to pharmacies, assigning pharmacies to act as a reserve units and assigning pharmacies to prepare prescription medicine and hand them to patients.
At Hat Yai Hospital in Songkhla province, the project has been joined by 13 pharmacies. Patients who are eligible must hold a universal healthcare card or a 30-baht gold card. The new service currently covers patients with diabetes, high blood pressure and hyperlipidemia.
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