22 hours ago, John Drake said:

I stopped going to Boots a couple of years ago, because you could see the curtain pulled down on the medicines behind the counter before you even entered. P&F does a better job of staffing their stores with pharmacists. And in an emergency, I will still go there to fill out my medicine list. But nowadays there is a better alternative in Bangkok. Just go to pharmacy row near Siriraj. 

Here in Chiang Mai I go to one of the seveal Phama Choice shops. Never ever a problem and many time some excellent advice re best nedicine/cream etc., for the issue. Staff always pleasant, good listeners, and always very reasonable prices. 

Last week I went to Boots in Market Village Hua Hin and there was no Pharmacist. I then went to the one in Tesco lotus at the  back, no chemist there.  Went back to them both 3 hours later, still away. 

This should get interesting, especially in the small shops.

18 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Here in Chiang Mai I go to one of the seveal Phama Choice shops. Never ever a problem and many time some excellent advice re best nedicine/cream etc., for the issue. Staff always pleasant, good listeners, and always very reasonable prices. 

Some very low prices are available in Bangkok along pharmacy row near Siriraj Hospital. For example, two months worth of medicine when I paid for it after my doctor's appointment at the hospital was about 5500 baht. Six months of the same medicine, same brands, was 8200 baht at one of the pharmacies along pharmacy row.

21 hours ago, Grusa said:

Not so. In UK, there are "Pharmacists", and there are "Dispensing Chemists"......different levels of certification and "competence“.

The shop can sell shampoo etc., no problem, and OTC (over the counter) drugs such as aspirin, with  o qualified person present. Many medications require to be "dispensed" in the presence of a DC, some hard or dangerpus drugs require the supervision of a Pharmacist......who may also ne qualofied to give medical advice and even minor procedures.

Maybe I used the term uk wrong I should of been more specific "Scotland" and then my statement is fact and I know that from personal experience. We had a shortage of pharmacists a few months ago in my area and the boots chemist was closed. The shop manager told me (I know him) that "they could not open even to sell a bottle of shampoo because not allowed to open without a pharmacist on the premises". Yes his worbs exactly. 

On 9/30/2022 at 1:16 PM, ezzra said:

There were times that you could get almost any medicine you wanted form Thai pharmacies, now day, if you ask for something that needs prescription they will tell you to go see a doctor, i guess the good days are gone now...

yep, xanax and bargirls is what helped me settle here

On 10/1/2022 at 2:10 PM, connda said:

This should get interesting, especially in the small shops.

They just link up to a real pharmacist by phone  

i was order on veriea.com , they ship from cambodia and was arrived in 2 days at my post box in bangkok

was just in a parcel , .. nice and quick

On 9/30/2022 at 12:07 PM, poppysdad said:

A couple of weeks ago I was in need of some medicine so went to a well known shop in our nearest mall and found no pharmacist so cannot have. Went to the other mall where there are 2 well known ones and the same story, in the end my wife got on her motorcycle and toured the town to find one actually open and working. We later found out that the pharmacists in both malls don’t actually start work until around 11:00 am. 

The pharmacist at my local BigC is usually having a break, off duty, or not yet here.

Over the last couple of weeks I have looked out for this. Boots and Watsons certainly persist in simply pulling down the shutters on the pharmacy counters when they don't have a pharmacist present. The rest of the shop continues as usual.