Hospitals told to prescribe antibiotics less often

[webfact]

Hospitals told to prescribe antibiotics less often

 

File photo

 

BANGKOK, 29th OCTOBER 2018 (NNT) - The Ministry of Public Health has instructed all hospitals under it to prescribe medications appropriately, and lower antibiotics use by 20%, by 2021. 

In 2019, the ministry will decrease antibiotic prescriptions for upper respiratory tract infections, acute diarrhea, open wounds and normal labor, to decrease drug resistant risks.

 

The ministry instructed the hospitals to prescribe medications appropriately to patients suffering from non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, as well as high-risk patients such as senior people, pregnant women, chronic kidney patients and patients who require consistent and continuous medicine. 

The ministry also instructed 125 large hospitals nationwide to develop an integrated antibiotic resistance management system, with the goal to decrease antibiotic prescription by 20% and antimicrobial resistance illnesses by 50%.

 

-- nnt 2018-10-29

[lujanit]

Hospitals prescribing less antibiotics is a good start.  However as long as certain antibiotics are available OTC the problem will continue.

 

It is only the re-education of the masses that will help long term and that is a huge ask for a population addicted to pills of any sort.

[ZeVonderBearz]

Hospitals are businesses so they'll happily subscribe you as much as they can to make you pay. 

[mok199]

I know Pattaya needs a good progressive,''western style'' healthfood and natural path store, something as simple as a parasite cleanse ,or probiotics, one must order online...but within my wifes family circle,its antibiotics for everything and never question a doctors prescription...

Edited October 28, 2018 by mok199

[YetAnother]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

In 2019, the ministry will decrease antibiotic prescriptions for upper respiratory tract infections, acute diarrhea, open wounds and normal labor, to decrease drug resistant risks.

the ministry doesn't prescribe anything, doctors and hospitals do; nice little money earner for them and nothing will change

[quadperfect]

Headline should read. Doctors are being re educated on what really needs antibiotics.

Here in thailand is not the same as western worlds ,where life is almost steril.

Here you get a cut and you just might die, cause the filth,the heat and the disease

Thailand needs antibiotic care more than say the uk

[overherebc]

21 minutes ago, quadperfect said:

Headline should read. Doctors are being re educated on what really needs antibiotics.

Here in thailand is not the same as western worlds ,where life is almost steril.

Here you get a cut and you just might die, cause the filth,the heat and the disease

Thailand needs antibiotic care more than say the uk

You need antibiotics when a qualified doctors knows you need them.

[George Bowman]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The Ministry of Public Health has instructed all hospitals under it to prescribe medications appropriately, and lower antibiotics use by 20%,

Surprisingly, antibiotics almost made me throw in the towel here in Thailand many years ago. Seriously. I was ready to grab the daughter and return to the states. Here is why.

 

Our daughter had the usual childhood ailments and more often than not, my wife would take her to the hospital to see the doctor and return home with a bag of antibiotics. And the fight was on. I came from a background where my parents only took me to the hospital if I needed stitches or a cast. My wife would want to take our daughter to the doctor at the first hint of the sniffles. More than once I would tell the wife during these heated debates "I know I'm not a <deleted> doctor, but I can think." Like I said earlier, antibiotics were central to this rough patch in my married life.

 

The next time my daughter got sick, I accompanied them to the hospital.  The first time I disagreed with a doctor face to face, my wife was flabbergasted. "You, can't do that, he is a doctor." I retorted rather loudly "I am a father."  The doctor finally said it was just a common cold and perhaps antibiotics were not needed. A day later, our daughter was up and running around. On subsequent visits my wife would get use to me questioning the physician. I asked many of them pointblank, "Is this what they taught you in medical school?" and then explain to them what should be done. At other times the doc was doing exactly what I would have done.

 

I ain't a doc, but I am a father.

 

 

[manarak]

this is ridiculous.

they should do a 5-minute CRP blood test as it has a good chance to tell bacteria from virus.

[yellowboat]

They are a short cut.  Too many things in Thailand are done in the name of expediency. 

 

Surprised when a lady running a noodle stand in Chiang Mai told me she went Kunming for some herbal remedies.  She was very happy with the outcome.   

[zzaa09]

20 years too late.

[Khun Paul]

Try educating the masses about Virus and dieases, trhyen first aid.

like traffic problems, very little is told to the public and bugger all education on anything from safety to being sick. 

Typical elite attitude keep the masses ignorant . 

[thaichiro]

About 12 years ago the US tv program 20/20 did a piece on over prescribing antibiotics. The had a reporter pose as a patient with a mild flu. They used a hidden camera. The doctor told her it was just the flu and to go home and rest. She kept pressing the doctor for “something to help” and he finally prescribed an antibiotic. When asked later why he did it when he knew she didn’t need it he said that he was afraid of losing a patient. 

That is what a placebo is for! More doctors should use them rather than the real stuff to keep patients happy!

[Retfed50]

A few years ago I got into a discussion with my doctor about why doctors prescribe antibiotics for conditions they will not help. His response was that if he didn't give his patients something, they would think he is a bad doctor!

[300sd]

This is a disturbing situation that has gone on far too long......in this country.

 

A common reply for many situations here.

 

Maybe someone can write a rap song.

 

 

[Vacuum]

1 hour ago, Khun Paul said:

Typical elite attitude keep the masses ignorant

Exactly, and this practice is going on worldwide.

[xylophone]

4 hours ago, lujanit said:

Hospitals prescribing less antibiotics is a good start.  However as long as certain antibiotics are available OTC the problem will continue.

 

It is only the re-education of the masses that will help long term and that is a huge ask for a population addicted to pills of any sort.

Very true.

 

When the bargirls at my friends bar thought they might have a STD they would go to the Pharmacist and get Tetracycline antibiotics, cheap and generic, and only buy as many as they could afford on the day, so bad news in the long term.

 

On the other hand my ex g/f would be off to the hospital/Dr at the sign of a sniffle and come back with antibiotics, paracetamol, anti-inflammatories, anti-histamines and god knows what else, EVERY time.

 

As others have said, it is a business here with no real thought to consequences.

[Tchooptip]

6 hours ago, mok199 said:

I know Pattaya needs a good progressive,''western style'' healthfood and natural path store, something as simple as a parasite cleanse ,or probiotics, one must order online...but within my wifes family circle,its antibiotics for everything and never question a doctors prescription...

  If it was only in your wife's family... so many Thais think that antibiotics are a cure-all. It's scary, my wife takes some 2/3 times a year. Impossible to say anything, they know!

[Bluespunk]

This summer, just before was due to fly back, had several painful abscesses develop in my arm pits while hiking in the UK.

 

When got back to bkk went to see doctor and ask what could be done.

 

He looked at them and was all set to prescribe antibiotics, I was skeptical as this had happened before and required surgery, so I asked

 

"will that work?"

 

Doc looked at me and said..."No, you really should have them cut out, but that's going to be painful"

 

Needless to say, I opted for surgery and it was discomforting, but hardly painful.

Edited October 29, 2018 by Bluespunk

[howbri]

7 hours ago, lujanit said:

Hospitals prescribing less antibiotics is a good start.  However as long as certain antibiotics are available OTC the problem will continue.

 

It is only the re-education of the masses that will help long term and that is a huge ask for a population addicted to pills of any sort.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/62262-let-food-be-thy-medicine-and-medicine-be-thy-food

[howbri]

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/62262-let-food-be-thy-medicine-and-medicine-be-thy-food

[balo]

This recommendation will not work in a country where you can buy antibiotics without prescription in any pharmacy .  It's a joke really. 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

They've been told this for decades....  I recall similar headlines in the the news papers 20 years ago...

 

Who really takes any notice whatsoever of what they are told to do in Thailand when any form or concept of consequences is absent from the mind of anyone in positions to do anything about it. 

 

Its an underlying culture here that a visit to the hospital must be rewarded with 4 different colors of tablets....  The amount of medication someone returns with from a simple hospital visit in Thailand astonishes me. 

 

Antibiotics can be bought over the counter - there is no measure of control. 

 

Fortunately it would appear that there is some progress being made into potential alternatives.. 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-45983320

 

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by richard_smith237

[RotBenz8888]

A doctor can get in trouble if anything goes wrong, so better safe than sorry, broadspectrum ab to every runny nose out there. And, it's extra cash for selling the pills.

[Redline]

9 hours ago, lujanit said:

Hospitals prescribing less antibiotics is a good start.  However as long as certain antibiotics are available OTC the problem will continue.

 

It is only the re-education of the masses that will help long term and that is a huge ask for a population addicted to pills of any sort.

They will keep doing it for the huge profits 

[overherebc]

6 hours ago, 300sd said:

This is a disturbing situation that has gone on far too long......in this country.

 

A common reply for many situations here.

 

Maybe someone can write a rap song.

 

 

The problem being that the 'bugs' that have become resistant to antibiotics don't understand what 'staying in one country' means..

[attrayant]

It's unbelievable that supposedly educated medical professionals have to be told - by bureaucrats no less - what the optimal standard of care is.

[zaZa9]

Hallelujah !

It is a rare occasion that antibiotics are NOT prescribed to my family members at Phuket hospitals !!

 

I had a firm but smiling "word" with the Pharmacist at Mission Hospital in Phuket when she issued  a shopping bag of medications for our 'luuk' that included antibiotics... ( and antacids and anthistamines and bandages ! ) 

The kid had passed the danger point of  Dengue Fever and we all knew this is a VIRAL infection and antibiotics do NOT  work on a virus .

She stayed smiling but replied , "Sir. Not up to me , up to Doctor and hospital.."

 

I wonder how many simple villiage folk are stung for medications they  and their families can barely afford ?

Surely some of these endure less healthy conditions in their day to day living as a result of a shortage of funds wasted on useless medications!

Its bad enough that sincere families may be going without in order to pay for ineffectual or poisonous drugs  for Grandma , but I also wonder  how many common Thai folk  are equipped to deal with Correctly administering a plethora of medications each day as prescribed by unscrupulous hospitals. 

There must be regular poisonings.

 

Time for me to  start going thru these prescriptions item by item , and returning all the uneeded products before paying the bill...

 

 

[dirtybirty]

A doctor can get in trouble if anything goes wrong, so better safe than sorry, broadspectrum ab to every runny nose out there. And, it's extra cash for selling the pills.

Not if it's a farang patient they dont trust me

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[RotBenz8888]

4 hours ago, dirtybirty said:

Not if it's a farang patient they dont trust me

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Farangs are kind of bugs to so it makes sense with broadspectrum there anyway.