Bangkok – The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) will allow certified modern pharmacies to provide prescribed medicine to patients who live nearby, to reduce congestion at hospitals.
Dr. Praphon Tangsrikiatkun, MOPH Deputy Permanent Secretary, opened a meeting to explain the guidelines for reducing congestion at hospitals using the services of modern pharmacies. Patients can bring prescriptions from doctors at 50 central hospitals and general hospitals nationwide to pick up medicine at a modern pharmacy that meets the GPP standard of the Food and Drug Administration. Currently, 500 eligible pharmacies are participating in the project.
The four groups of patients who may receive prescribed medicine free of charge at drugstores instead of hospitals are those with diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma or mental illnesses. The medicine collected at drugstores is the same as that they would receive from the hospital. Patients can choose whether or not to receive the prescribed medicine from a certified pharmacy.
The MOPH aims to establish a network of 5,000 modern pharmacies by 2023. Currently, there are 17,000 registered modern pharmacies under the GPP standards guide and 250 hospitals nationwide in the project.
