BANGKOK, March 25 – The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) on Monday will take over the cases of missing pseudoephedrine-based cold pills from the police, said DSI chief Tharit Pengdit.
The DSI will work with the Public Health Ministry, the Food and Drug Administration and the Royal Thai Police to investigate the cases.
On-site inspections will be conducted to find out how many private and state hospitals were involved in irregularities while purchasing and prescribing the pseudoephedrine-based cold pills which can be used as a precursor for producing methamphetamine.
All agencies under the Public Health Ministry are cooperating well in the investigation, the DSI chief said, confirming no information has implicated any high ranking public health officials as being involved in the case.
In another development, Paijit Warachit, Permanent Secretary for Public Health said the ministry is expected to receive a response letter from the Council of State this week on revising the category of pseudoephedrine-based cold pills.
The ministry proposed pseudoephedrine-based medicine be categorized as a psychotropic substances, the same type as morphine pills.
After deliberation by the Council of State, a new ministerial regulation will be issued, requiring that details of production, orders and patients prescribed the pseudoephedrine–based cold pills must be reported to the ministry.
After the new regulations go into effect, relevant agencies will be given 30 days to adjust their operations to be compatible with those regulations.
