Doctors' plea on life-saving drugs

"It's a good tool to negotiate prices with drug manufacturers for the benefit of the state and patients," the society's chairman Dr Kriengsak Vacharanukulkieti said yesterday.

Led by Mongkol, the interim government has declared compulsory licensing on medicines for Aids, heart disease and cancer.

"There are many other necessary and highly inaccessible drugs that should be subject to compulsory licensing too," Kriengsak said.

He said hypolipidaemic agents, sold at around Bt70 per tablet, were among them. "Patients need Bt1.5 billion of hypolipidaemic agents each year," Kriengsak said.

He believed drug manufacturers could reduce the price of these agents significantly.

"When they asked to have these agents included on the national drug list, they discounted the price by 60 per cent," he said.

Kriengsak said his society was prepared to recommend to the new public health minister what healthcare policies he or she should carry out.

Newly elected Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has yet to reveal who will make up his Cabinet.

"We hope the new minister will fully support the universal healthcare scheme," Kriengsak said, "But instead of putting too much money into treatment alone, more money should be injected to disease-prevention work".

According to Kriengsak, the government has now allocated a Bt180 per-head subsidy to disease prevention while treatment has received a Bt2,100-per-head subsidy.

"Actually, the per-head subsidy for disease prevention should be at Bt300," Kriengsak said.

On other recommendations, Kriengsak said the new government should push for the enforcement of the Medical Malpractice Victims Fund Bill and the Road Accident Victims Fund Bill.

"If possible, we also hope to see the government merge three healthcare funds - Universal Healthcare Fund, Healthcare Welfare Fund for Civil Servants and the Social Security Fund. The merger will create huge benefits," he said.

Duangkamon Sajirawattanakul

The Nation