Category: Health
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PTT To Enter Medicine By Building A Cancer Drug Production Plant
PTT,Thailand’s state-owned oil and gas giant, is entering into pharmaceuticals with plans to set up the country’s first-ever cancer drug production plant. The company signed an agreement with the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, a state-owned drug producer and supplier under the public health ministry, on Tuesday to jointly build the plant. Thailand is trying to reduce drug imports…
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One Million Thai Teenagers Are Suffering From Depression
Thailand may be known as the “Land of Smiles” but an estimated 1 million teenagers suffer clinical depression, many of whom are going untreated, said the nation’s chief mental health official Boonruang Trairuangworawat on Friday. Boonruang, director general of the Mental Health Department, said there’s a need to address problems among Thai teens aged 10…
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Disease Control Department Insist E-Cigarettes Are Dangerous
The Public Health Ministry’s Disease Control Department has insisted that electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are hazardous to health and should not be used as a means to quit smoking, said Dr Assadang Ruay-archin, deputy director-general of the department. Dr Assadang, also the department spokesman, also dismissed as untrue a report that the Public Health Ministry…
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Thailand Battles Drug-Resistant Malaria Strains
Once a smuggling stop for Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge guerrillas, Thailand’s border town of Bo Rai finds itself on the frontline of a new battle against drug-resistant strains of malaria that could frustrate global attempts to stamp out the disease. Malaria killed about 445,000 people last year, more than 90 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa,…
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Some Skin Whitening Products Found To Contain Mercury
From random checks on 50 samples of cosmetics for face-whitening, the Medical Science Department has found 12 of them to contain mercury, a substance which can be harmful to kidneys, the nervous and respiratory systems and skin. Dr Sukhum Kanchanapimai, the department director-general, said the mercury content found in the 12 samples of cosmetics ranges…
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Thai Women Now Officially The Second Heaviest In Asia
Thai women are now officially the second fattest group of people in Asia. Only Malaysian women tip the scales worse on average. The head of Thailand’s Diabetes’ Association painted a grim picture of a nation getting more and more obese. Poor diet and insufficient exercise are to blame – with diabetes, heart conditions and blocked…
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Three More Private Hospitals Withdraw From “Gold Card Health Scheme”
As many as 100,000 gold-card holders are likely to be affected when three private hospitals in Bangkok pull out of the universal healthcare scheme in October. Public Health Minister Dr Piyasakol Sakonsattayathorn, however, played down the pullout of the three private hospitals in Bangkok namely Bangna 1, Panya and Vibharam-Pakkred, saying it is quite normal,…
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Excise Tax To Increase On Sweetened Drinks
The Excise Department says it is preparing a proposal to increase taxes on soft drinks with sugar contents exceeding the specified limit for the cabinet to approve. Director-general of the Excise Department Somchai Poolsavasdi revealed yesterday that the department was finalizing a proposed amendment to Article 29 of Excise Law covering taxes for soft drinks,…
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New Campaign To Lower Dengue Fever Risks Launched
The estimated economic burden of dengue to Thailand has risen dramatically in recent years and is now costing up to Bt290 million, ranking the country in second place in Asean after Indonesia. In an attempt to bring the figures down, the Asian Society for Paediatrics is taking the opportunity of Asean Dengue Day to launch…
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One Million Thais Suffer From Smoking-Related Illness
At least one million Thais are sick and suffering from various chronic diseases associated with cigarette smoking such as cancer, emphysema, stroke, according to ASH Thailand or anti-cigarette smoking foundation. ASH Thailand secretary-general Dr Prakit Wateesatokkit said Friday that report from the World Health Organization for every Thai nation who died of diseases associated with…