How to report a hospital refusing to sell medication?

[atyclb]

16 minutes ago, wotsdermatter said:

3 hours ago, atyclb said:

went to a bkk pharmacy that had a bonafide pharmacist/ i was seeking isopropyl alcohol

Your comment is slightly off topic but it is true that pharmacies sell isopropyl but other places such as Lotus/TESCO, 7/11, etc also sell it and usually cheaper, but only in small bottles.

'nuf sed.

 

 

my comment was to elaborate and provide an example on the pharmacy staff mentality

[Sheryl]

3 hours ago, Lee4Life said:

 

     It would be good to have a list of what is truly prohibited here or classified prescription only so that we know for sure.

It is listed in MIMs

 

http://www.mims.com/thailand

 

(you have to register to use it)

 

Note` however that there are pharmacy specific conditions which impact on legality of sales so it can in fact be true that one place can't legally sell but another can. The overwhelming majority of medications are in Category "D":

 

" D = Dangerous Drug (ยาอันตราย)
A first grade pharmacist shall be on duty at the premises selling modern drugs, at all times, while the premises are open for operation. "

 

Pharmacy staff are may prefer  to tell you something is "illegal" or "have to get at hospital" or the like than to tell you "our pharmacy does not have a qualified pharmacist so we can't sell it but pharmacies that do, can"

 

But that is more often the truth.

[DPKANKAN]

2 hours ago, colinneil said:

No need for the smart arse comment, we are talking about Thailand not farang land. Gawd .

Another point if your wifes sister is was Thai why would she pay for meds?

Not smart arse at all. Just facts after your smart arse comment saying can I understand the bill!! Thought I needed to explain as you were having difficulty understanding!!???????????? Boring!! Even a Payttaya bar stool phone tapper could probable understand English. 

[DaRoadrunner]

Excuse me... I thought the original enquiry was "How To Report A Hospital?"

 

So where does one report problems with hospitals? Ministry of Health?

 

Anyone know?

[colinneil]

4 hours ago, DPKANKAN said:

I get the fact, not idea, from the local government hospital charging my Thai wife's dying 28 year old sister 3,300 baht for same, not generic tabs, I got for 550 baht and likewise 4000 baht charged for 700 baht at the local pharmacy.

 

4 hours ago, DPKANKAN said:

Did I understand the bill? Jesus wept. I learnt to read at school, learnt to count, spell and do joinned up writing to!! 

Thai hospital bills are in Thai, also Thais dont pay for meds as you posted.

So all this about you understanoing, reading is not correct.

[Sheryl]

A flaming post has been removed.

Sent from my SM-J701F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[arithai12]

On 5/31/2019 at 8:37 PM, DaRoadrunner said:

Excuse me... I thought the original enquiry was "How To Report A Hospital?"

 

So where does one report problems with hospitals? Ministry of Health?

 

Anyone know?

Thanks, that was my main question indeed and so far I haven't seen any suggestions.

 

An update on my story: I tried several pharmacies, some told me the medication could only be sold by a hospital, another one had it but at a price on the high end. As for hospitals, many would have it, most asked for a prescription or agreement by their own in-house specialist, in the end I got it without any additional needs from the in-hospital pharmacy of Sriphat Medical Center for a price which was slightly higher than Bangkok Hospital (actually total price cheaper considering the need to see the specialist at this latter).

 

So my little survey shows that

a) it's not clear that hospital pharmacies are/are not bound to sell only as prescribed by their in-house doctors.

 

b) prices range wildly, easily double, from one hospital to another.

 

c) there is no rule that one hospital is systematically more expensive for the medications than another. I have examples of medications that cost more at A than at B, and others that cost more at B than at A.

 

I read in multiple news that the Government wants to crack down on the jungle of prices... I hope it's for real.

 

Actually I get almost complete refund from my insurance. I am trying to understand how things work and I am in general against robberies.

[JimmyJ]

I wanted to get a topical medication in CM. Prescription in the US.

I had the empty vial with me.

 

Showed it to the 1st pharmacy, she looked at it and said "That is not available in Thailand".

 

Showed it to the 2nd pharmacy, he looked at it and said "That is not available in Thailand".

Then he looked on his shelves for a minute or 2 and came up with it, under a slightly different but recognizable name.

 

So in my experience "That is not available in Thailand" means "I don't carry it" or "I don't carry it but I'll look for it because I don't know if I carry it".

 

Incidentally, I'll get the name/address of the 2nd pharmacy - it's on Moon Muang Road near the Somphet market, and add it to this thread - he was always cheaper than other pharmacies I checked for price.

[LosLobo]

On ‎5‎/‎31‎/‎2019 at 7:19 PM, DPKANKAN said:

Did I understand the bill? Jesus wept. I learnt to read at school, learnt to count, spell and do joinned up writing to!! 

It is understandable that the poster doubts your ability to read and understand the hospital bill.

 

But with respect, personally I wouldn't brag about my scholastic abilities especially when you have difficulty spelling words like "joined" and "too".

 

Edited June 15, 2019 by LosLobo

[Sheryl]

On 6/13/2019 at 12:58 AM, arithai12 said:

 

.....So my little survey shows that

a) it's not clear that hospital pharmacies are/are not bound to sell only as prescribed by their in-house doctors.

 

 

If by "bound" you mean required or forbidden by law, neither is the case. There is no law on this.

 

It is entirely up to the hospital. They can sell drugs like a public pharmacy if they want (though I don't know of any who do) , they can provide drugs only to patients treated in their hospital if they want; or they can do the latter but make occasional exceptions if they want.

 

Most hospitals provide only to their own patients.

 

 

[DPKANKAN]

On 6/15/2019 at 11:45 AM, LosLobo said:

It is understandable that the poster doubts your ability to read and understand the hospital bill.

 

But with respect, personally I wouldn't brag about my scholastic abilities especially when you have difficulty spelling words like "joined" and "too".

 

55555???????????????????? and some people cannot pick up on deliberate sarcasm and 'fishing bait'!!! 55555???????????????????? or should that be "phishing bate"???

Edited June 17, 2019 by DPKANKAN