Medical researchers call for more Thai govt funding

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Medical researchers call for more govt funding
Pratch Rujivanarom
The Nation



Leaders in the field say that Thailand has the potential to be a leading research force

BANGKOK: -- WHILE Thailand does not lack talented medical researchers, it lacks well-planned support for them to achieve milestones, experts in the field have revealed.

"But overall, Thai medical researchers are not really on a par with international standards," said Professor Dr Pyatat Tatsanavivat, director of the Clinical Research Collaboration Network.

"The biggest cause of the problem is the lack of proper and continuous planning from the government."

He said Thai researchers conducted their research separately because the government had failed to set a clear direction and identify national goals for research work.

"In addition, the government does not provide support for researchers to improve in areas where we are not yet good at," he said.

Pyatat suggested that the government should put medical research on the national agenda in order to compete with other countries.

He urged the government to invest in related medical science research continuously, link nationwide researchers to study this topic and set up a committee to inspect the progress.

"Our medical research field would be able to achieve something big if the government agreed to change its approach," he said.

Another key issue raised by many medical researchers was a lack of funding.

Chulalongkorn Hospital doctor and professor at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Medicine, Dr Yong Poovorawan, said the lack of money for research was one of the major obstacles.

"Research is not a profession in this country. We cannot earn a living doing this job. All the researchers we have today are somewhat voluntary and they are doing research as a part-time job," Yong said.

Yong believed that if the government invested more in the sector, the country's research field would be able to attract more brilliant minds and probably see greater research results.

Thailand Research Fund director Suthipun Jitpimolmard said Thailand's medical research ability would definitely rise if more money was pumped into the field.

He said the TRF gave Bt200 million in grants to researchers across all fields each year.

"The funds are only available for half of the applicants who apply for funding with TRF," he said.

Suthipun said that the TRF did value the importance of medical research and every year it gave priority to research projects involving important topics like non-communicable diseases.

Every now and then Thai doctors announce at public conferences that their research has come up with findings useful to the treatment and care of patients. Many outstanding Thai researchers have won awards for their work.

Yong has pioneered virology research and made contributions to improve vaccination at a global level.

He is renowned for his research on a hepatitis B vaccination.

"The results are very positive as the 10-year assessments revealed that the carrier rate of hepatitis B among children dropped to 0.1 per cent due to the vaccination," he said.

Yong added that the World Health Organisation looked into his research on hepatitis B.

Yong is also an expert in infectious disease preven?tion. In response to bird flu, he has been a research team leader.

Ramathibodi Hospital Sleep Disorder Centre researcher Assoc Prof Dr Kanit Muntarbhorn revealed that Thailand's research on sleep disorders is No 1 in terms of published research.

"We are the pioneer on sleep medicine in the region, as this year at the World Congress of Sleep Medicine we presented 11 research studies while Singapore presented nine research works and Malaysia only three research reports," Kanit said.

Ramathibodi Hospital's sleep medicine research team was also the first team in the region to concentrate on this subject, he said.

According to TRF, Thai research on liver |cancer and cholangiocarcinoma is also world class.

However, he said a lack of funding was still a huge problem for medical researchers, as almost every research work he had done was financed by an individual fund or university fund.

That, he said, was not enough money to compete with neighbouring countries.

"I had to use the money I got from selling my car to buy the first sleep monitoring equipment," Kanit said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Medical-researchers-call-for-more-govt-funding-30260328.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-18

[Strangebrew]

And here all along I thought They found the cure for AID's and Ebola. My bad.

[Mr Somtam]

I cant sleep doctor.

What do you do all day?

Sleeping in my hammock doctor.

Ah, I see, here are some pills.

[Yme]

Didn't bother reading beyond: WHILE Thailand does not lack talented medical researchers.

If a story can't begin with the truth it's not going to get any better the more I read.

Lets see; An announced vaccine for HIV that later proved to be ineffective and a treatment for Ebola that's never been whispered about since.

They do seem to be quite good at longevity and prolonging life though.

[Srikcir]

I thought Thailand was the Hub for Medical Discoveries.

Instead it is the Hub of Medical Deficiences.

[Thian]

Seriously, what happened with that cure against Ebola?? Last thing i heard was that it was going to the USA for research.

[harryfrompattaya]

I think it a great Idea if a small country like Israel can do it while fighting and killing it should be easy for a big country like Thailand