Do You Worry About Quality Of Medicine In Thai Pharmacies ?

[Muggi1968]

Hi

I use medicine for arthritis.

I can get this medicine in many Thai pharmacies over the counter for 1/2 price of the price in my Thai hospital.

But I worry about the quality of medicine from Thai pharmacies.

They tell my not to worry about "Storage temperature" and "last sales date"......

Some times I visit Thai pharmacies where medication is at the counter and they have no Air condition...

Often 30+ C in the shop....

Do anybody have experience (good or bad) about this.

Should I worry ?

[meatboy]

no need to worry,i take 8diff.tabs all generics keep them in a fridge over three years never had a problem,but if you can buy your meds at a pharmacy that has aircon.

[billd766]

I have been on 4 different meds for my heart problem for 6 years now.

I used to buy them in BKK but now I live up country I use a place in Nakhon Sawan 125 km away and order my email and he sends it by EMS.

Always well in date and I don't bother about the temperature.

No problems in all that time.

Edited August 9, 2012 by billd766

[Muggi1968]

Thanx..

I thought it would be quit silly to buy medicine abroad when I live in Thailand, and also want to support my "new" country..

[Muggi1968]

I have been on 4 different meds for my heart problem for 6 years now.

I used to buy them in BKK but now I live up country I use a place in Nakhon Sawan 125 km away and order my email and he sends it by EMS.

Always well in date and I don't bother about the temperature.

No problems in all that time.

I live in teh country right now. But soon I will move to BKK. Do you recommend any Pharmacy ?

[Sheryl]

Pharmacies here vary greatly. Limit yourself to ones with air con and an actual pharmacist in duty. these are a minority, but every town has at least one.

[billd766]

AFAIR I used to go to the South East Pharmacy on Sukhmvit Road.

Go past Robinsons from the Asoke BTS stop on the same side, past Asia Books and Soi 15 and somehwere along there quite close is the pharmacy.

It doesn't look that much but it also sells UK papers and out the front you have to step down to get into the shop.

Every time I used to go there they had what I needed and it was all in date.

I haven't been there for about 3 years since I retired upcountry but they were good and several of the staff spoke good English.

I used to print out a list of what I needed just in case.

[Muggi1968]

I have heard other talk positive about South East Pharmacy on Sukhmvit Road.

have found it om google street view... Small shop, but I go to sukumwith road 22/71 quit often(Soon I will move to On nut area), so I will visit them next week....

Thanx a lot for the help everybody

I appreciate it...

When I am settled in BKK, Feel free to cash in a cold beer.

I just learned that Not all people in here is "farangs with an attetude"

(I knew this allready )

Edited August 10, 2012 by Muggi1968

[drdoom6996]

Great Pharmacy on Pattaya Nua. Good prices, but they are a proper pharmacy. Not the one to go to for anyone's other stuff that should be perscribed by a doctor.

[how241]

Pharmacies here vary greatly. Limit yourself to ones with air con and an actual pharmacist in duty. these are a minority, but every town has at least one.

Always buy from a air cond. store.

[fasteddie]

I think temp and sell by date are the least of your worries, counterfeit drugs are rife in Asia thanks to the Chinese.

[Muggi1968]

After a visit to South East Pharmacy on Sukhumvit Road, I must say I am very impressed with them..

Only thing is that they did not have a generic brand of my medicine so I had to buy the original expensive one....

But still 1/2 price compared to the price at my Hospital....

[chiang mai]

There's two parts to this subject, the first is the issue of storage and tempreature control but the second perhaps more important part is whether the medication is authentic or not. A doctor at a well known Bangkok hospital told me three or four years ago that Pfizer had recently done a study that showed over 80% of their ED product medication sold in Thai pharmacies was fake, question is, how big is that iceberg! I buy various meds every month and it's taken me time to find the right pharmacy, I never ceased to be amazed that I pay 420 Baht for Ezetrol which is a cholesterol lowering medication whilst the same product costs up to twice that amount at the chain stores. Am I buying knocks offs or are the chain pharmacies overly greedy, in this particular case it's the latter since I had the product checked but given such a massive price disparity and greed it's easy to see why people might inadvertently buy the counterfeit products simply as a cost savings measure.

[Sheryl]

ED drugs are prescription only in Thailand and OTC sale is illegal. In locations catering to foreign tourists, fake versions are commonly sold openly...the fact that they are fake apparently helps the shops avoid prosecution, though farang buying them have sometimes been hassled by police.

Ditto valium, Xanax and other benzos.

Generally speaking there is not a big problem of counterfeit drugs in Thailand, the exceptions being the above. Stick to only buying OTC drugs that are legally sold OTC .

[Muggi1968]

There's two parts to this subject, the first is the issue of storage and tempreature control but the second perhaps more important part is whether the medication is authentic or not. A doctor at a well known Bangkok hospital told me three or four years ago that Pfizer had recently done a study that showed over 80% of their ED product medication sold in Thai pharmacies was fake, question is, how big is that iceberg! I buy various meds every month and it's taken me time to find the right pharmacy, I never ceased to be amazed that I pay 420 Baht for Ezetrol which is a cholesterol lowering medication whilst the same product costs up to twice that amount at the chain stores. Am I buying knocks offs or are the chain pharmacies overly greedy, in this particular case it's the latter since I had the product checked but given such a massive price disparity and greed it's easy to see why people might inadvertently buy the counterfeit products simply as a cost savings measure.

I Read an article about a survay on the the internet showing the 60 % of all medicine sold in Cambodia, Thailand and vietnam was fake.

If This medicine was fake I would get pain in my feet within a few weeks...

I didn't so i am happy...

But I know it is a risk..