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How good is Thailand healthcare?


junglesoup

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I m not talking about the government hospitals, but more about how good are Thailands best hospitals in the world stage.

Its in my head because I ve heard some positive stories this week about Thailand.

 

world first op in Bangkok

 

Saw this in the British press also. Are these Thai doctors? If so they must be very good...

 

Also the thread about stem cell research seems very good.

 

And on newsnight on the BBC there was a documenatry about how Thailand is saying fuk the big drug companies. What they are doin is making cheap copies of the HIV drugs so everyone can afford them. Its causing a biut of a stir in the pharma world.

 

It was nice to see some positive press about Thailand this week over here. The BBC newsnight thing was done in a a way that made the Thai health minister a bit of a philanphrapist(sp?) and the western drug companies profit mongers...

 

IME, the private Thai hospitals I ve been in were excellent and much much better than this shitty NHS we have now. It really is bad now. Know so many people that have had so many cases of negligence here or know people who have.

 

Go on Thailand...good to see some positive press at last...

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>What they are doin is making cheap copies of the HIV drugs so everyone can afford them. Its causing a biut of a stir in the pharma world.

 

Its theft pure and simple. And yes, I am not surprised its making a bit of a stir.

 

One point I saw that further outlines the Thai position was that Thailand offered to pay 0.5% of the *profits* of its stolen drugs to Abbot as 'royalties". Further underlining their position on this: stealing.

 

If Thailand *honestly* believed it was doing the "right thing", they would hand over all the "profits" made and be at least in a better moral position. But keeping the profits (well 99.5% of them) marks them as thieves. Pure and simple.

-j-

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I dont really understand the situation, but Thailand has alot of support from medicin san frontier and the like in this matter.

I guess the other side is that these big drug companies should make the drugs more affordable for the people who really need them.

It said Thailand is at crossroads where they are developed but not developed. There are enough affluent people to demand a healthcare system but not enough money to provide one.

Another thing I would say in Thailands defense is that they arent doing this with all the drugs. They are only doing it with 2/3 drugs which are too expensive but really needed. I think if they were doing it for pure profit why not do it on a wider scale...?

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Its a complicated situation that has been gone into elsewhere. Basically it costs between 400 million and 1 billion (IIRC) US$ to bring a new drug onto the market. And thats not counting the 999 drugs that go into screening that don't make it. Its easy to look at *1* drug and say that should be cheaper for those who need it. But who developed that drug, and more importantly - who is going to develop the *next* drug that is needed?

 

Governements do *not* have strong drug development infrastructure - so its left to the private companies to do so. And guess what? They make a profit on it. There is a surprise. But they gamble hundreds or thousand of millions to develop these drugs. They do not just drop out of thin air!! Take away the profit motive for drug development, and bring it to a screaming halt.

 

Do you *want* drug development halted because Thailand says the drugs are too expensive? Does the expense give them a right to STEAL what they need? Or should they have *negotiated* a deal they can live with?

 

Yes, thailand is poor, poor, poor. With the most expensive airport in the world (leaving a perfectly good airport which could *easily* have been upgraded at 1/10th or less of the cost). So, is it a case of "bad drug companies" - or a case of Thailand wanting flashy airports over healthcare?

 

or is it also totally symptomatic that Thais have a complete and utter disregard for *other peoples* intellectual property rights? (and to help you answer that, take a quick stroll round to pantip).

 

And lastly, keep an eye on what happens to drug companies. Most of the major players have amalgamated. Its just getting too expensive to bring new drugs to the market for smaller companies to survive....

-j-

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Good points Josh. I agree they should have tried for some sort of deal or compromise. In the longrun they will shoot themselves in the foot with the future drugs as the comopanies will be suspicious of any dealings with Thai trade partners. A deal would have benefit everyone,

 

Cheers,

Chris.

 

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The U.S. Government, non-profit foundations and public donations have financed the lions share of AIDS/HIV research in the US over the last 25 years, not he companies now reaping the profits.

 

The Pharmaceutical lobby in Washington is dwarfed only by the defense industry lobby and they get most of what they want, including the right to patent drugs developed at public expense.

 

I have no sympathy whatsoever for the drug industry; they take care of themselves VERY well.

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thailand may be winning the stand-off, for better or worse...

i'd vote for "worse" actually, though i have little sympathy for big pharma (or big anything else for that matter).

thailand could well afford decent healthcare, if only the government would care to get its priorities right. education could very well do with a bit of better prioritising as well...

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>Most new drugs are developed by independent labs, such as Imclone

 

Change "most" to "some" and you are nearer the truth. But the bottom line again is that these smaller companies simply do not have the resources to take their new drugs through to delivering the drug to the market. Clinical trials (needed for licencing) are *expensive*....

-j-

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