The Ministry of Public Health has opened a new facility in Bangkok to provide one-stop services for the treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul attended the opening ceremony of the Bang Rak Medical Centre Building at Bang Rak Hospital on Thursday. The center will provide one-stop services for STI treatment and will pave the way for a full-service wellness center in the future.
According to the Public Health Minister, public health figures from 2020 show that the number of patients with sexually transmitted diseases was 33.6 per 100,000 people. Syphilis, gonorrhea, non-gonococcal urethritis, chancroid, and lymphogranuloma venereum were the most common diseases. The ministry has set a goal of reducing new syphilis cases to one per 100,000 people and gonorrhea infections to three per 100,000 people.
Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control (DDC), said that the facility will begin offering Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) next month in order to quell new HIV cases. The new center will provide STI Test & Go services as well as self-sample Human Papillomavirus (HPV) testing. Services such as viral-load testing for hepatitis C, HPV vaccination service, and health check-up services are expected to be available by 2023. (NNT)
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