Thai Health Min to develop old-fashioned medicine and use Thai herbs

[webfact]

MOPH to develop old-fashioned medicine and use Thai herbs

BANGKOK, 12 January 2016 (NNT) – Public Health Minister Piyasakon Sakolsattayatorn said old-fashioned medicine is growing more popular worldwide as it helps solve health problems which modern drugs cannot.

The Ministry of Public Health is accelerating the development of the old-fashioned medicine as an alternative for the public to make Thailand an international health center and to help stabilize the country's economy.

The agency is yet to make a national master plan for the development of Thai herbs to include Thai old-fashioned medicine as part of a health care system associated with the modern medicine.

-- NNT 2016-01-12

[Reigntax]

Traditional herbs, a few wives tales, some black magic and the medical industry will all be redundant. In Thailand anyway!

[fakename]

Sounds like a good idea, I have always liked Phad Kaprow! Use it to cure my hunger pains!

[madmitch]

Will this be in addition to the six other drugs that the doctor has just prescribed?

[bheard]

The salient word here is DEVELOP.

Will the ministry do some proper scientific development and make the results transparent?

If Thai culture is anything to go by, any 'results' of research will first have to go through the FACE filter, in which case the results will be meaningless.

Better for the ministry to spend it's budget on improving outcomes for all Thai people. Initiating an appointments system for outpatient visits would save a huge amount of time for people. Start right there.

[KMartinHandyman]

Make Thailand an international health center and stabilize the economy

Whew that's a stretch. I know I haven't heard it all but that starts topping the list. [emoji848][emoji849][emoji23]

[rubl]

I guess development means packaging, promotion and the like?

I'm sure the TAT will soon start their own campaign to bring in millions of 'natural medicine' lovers.

[springheeled jack]

very good idea on behalf of the ministry of health to develop thai herbal medicines I am in favour the Victorians in my country were firm believers in herbal medication and some even had herbal gardens.

[CantSpell]

The agency is yet to make a national master plan for the development of Thai herbs to include Thai old-fashioned medicine as part of a health care system associated with the modern medicine.

Very good idea but that "yet" makes me think that is just another announcement that will get at maximum of zero follow-up...

Also with TPP on the table, I really doubt the big pharma lobbies will allow any government but go down that route...

[HerbalEd]

For the cynics and herbal-ignorant here:

Thailand FDA has already approved ten herbal medicines for use in the Thai Healthcare System, and does so in cooperation with the World Health Organization's Traditional Medicine Strategy.

The below is from WHO:

The WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014–2023 was developed and launched in response to the World Health Assembly resolution on traditional medicine (WHA62.13). The strategy aims to support Member States in developing proactive policies and implementing action plans that will strengthen the role traditional medicine plays in keeping populations healthy. Building on the work done under the WHO traditional medicine strategy: 2002–2005, the updated strategy for the period 2014–2023 devotes more attention than its predecessor to prioritizing health services and systems, including traditional and complementary medicine products, practices and practitioners.

[partington]

Old-fashioned medicine is great because it comes from the past, when people were far healthier than today, and disease was almost unknown.

[harrry]

Old-fashioned medicine is great because it comes from the past, when people were far healthier than today, and disease was almost unknown.

And had a life expency less than half of that of today.

[Rancid]

Many pharmaceuticals were based on herbs, discounting herbal medicine is the purview of the ignorant or narrowly read.

Herbs sometimes don't work as quickly as pharmaceuticals however they are cheaper, unable to be patented, and do not have the unsavoury side effects. Which is why Big Pharma of course ridicules them, no profit.

There is a place and need for both.

[partington]

The idea that herbs do not have side effects isn't true unfortunately. (Think of cannabis : a distinct herb).

Both pharmaceuticals and herbs (the difference is illusory except that herbs have in general not undergone formal testing or proof of efficacy) work the same way: they contain active compounds that work by binding to molecules that naturally occur in the body, and are part of a signalling or control mechanism. This is how the body regulates itself, and drugs are designed to act the same way.

All active compounds (herb or pharmaceutical) will bind to their target molecule in the body with a very high affinity, but all compounds by the nature of chemical interactions must bind to some other non-target molecules with lower affinity. This is the source of side-effects: your active compound is binding to something else which affects another pathway. The best drugs (or active compounds in a herb) will have such a high affinity for their target, and such a low affinity for non-target molecules that side effects are minimal.

Less good ones do not have such a marked difference and will have greater side effects. There is no intrinsic reason why herbs and pharmaceuticals should differ and indeed pharmaceuticals are often identified by isolating thousands of individual compounds from plant or animal sources and testing them one by one for the desired effect.

The anti-diabetic drug Byetta was first identified as a natural compound from the saliva of the Gila monster that increases the secretion of insulin and so helps to control blood sugar. When made in a factory this perfectly natural substance is called a pharmaceutical...

[stevecm]

Lol a move in the right direction. Not.

[ThaiTony2]

This is more in-line with what you see in China. Since more and more Chinese visitors are expected to visit Thailand, this move does not surprise me.

[WaiLai]

Such shoddy reporting, sensationalism and junta efforts to be seen acting on behalf of an ever-increasing less happy populace!

"Public Health Minister Piyasakon Sakolsattayatorn said old-fashioned medicine is growing more popular worldwide as it helps solve health problems which modern drugs cannot."

******* please list a few examples of such medicines IF YOU DARE!

"... to make Thailand an international health center and to help stabilize the country's economy"

******* and just what other countries in the world don't have herbal remedies? and will the Thai medicines be so cheap that their cost will offset the travel costs of the foreigners? (foreigner husband to wife - "Honey lets head over to Thailand for a couple of weeks, get abused by transpo drivers, nearly killed on the roads, look at the mountains of trash and filth the Thais are happy to live in - and we will top it off with some real good old fashioned herbal remedies that won't have any English on the labels")

"The agency is yet to make a national master plan for the development of Thai herbs..."

******* and this pretty much sums up the likelihood of this plan ever coming to fruition just as so many hare-brained pipe-dreams of the current government (sorry, junta) have failed quickly after the first headlines were posted!

******* what? no predictions from the Minister as to how long full implementation will take?

******* where will the start-up capital come from?

[dominique355]

Will ghost medicine be included?

Superstition at its best