Bangkok, 10th August 2019 – From 16 August this year, the general public will be able to check the prices of drugs and medical services at each hospital by scanning QR codes, following a regulation from the Ministry of Commerce requiring private hospitals, manufacturers, importers and wholesalers of drugs and medical equipment to disclose pricing to the Department of Internal Trade, in an a effort to regulate drugs and medical services pricing.
The Department of Internal Trade (DIT) Director General Wichai Pochanakit revealed private hospitals are required to disclose their purchasing and selling prices for medicines, medical equipment and charges for medical services by 31 July 2019. There remain 37 hospitals who have yet to submit their pricing list after the deadline, out of 353 private hospitals in the country. For drug manufacturers, only 81 companies have disclosed their selling price data to the department from a total of 345 operating in the country. Hospitals and drug companies who failed to submit the data by the deadline must now pay a 2,000 baht per day penalty until they comply, and must disclose required information by the end of August or face prosecution.
The DIT has been processing data received to create a price list for customers’ information and comparison, which will be available to the general public in QR code format from 16 August 2019. Alternatively, this information will be available on the DIT’s website www.dit.go.th. The system is designed to cope with up to 100,000 online users simultaneously.
The department will also ask for information regarding common medical equipment and service charges, where standard identification codes are not available from each hospital, to be displayed on the system. This additional information is expected to be available within three months.
