A nurse with Tha Wang Pha hospital in Nan province has won the best research award for treatment of haemophilia patients - which could cut treatment by nearly half and shorten their treatment period.
In addition to the top award and Bt20,000 in prize money presented to Chularat Suriyathip, the
Public Health Ministry has awarded three other medical personnel at government hospitals and offices.
The Nan hospital serves as a stopover shelter for haemophilia patients. In her work there, Chularat designed a mechanism to admit and initially treat critical patients to minimise the chance of them developing paralysis.
She received support from the Haemophilia Foundation of Thailand and medical staff with expertise in haemophilia treatment from Ramathibodi Hospital. The mechanism she designed in 2008 has proved successful after a oneyear experiment with 13 patients, including five children.
The experiment and patients' feedback showed the treatment cost had fallen from an average Bt620,450 to Bt344,468.95 - and they did not need hospital treatment after being treated as outpatients.
Patients were also taught how to care for themselves to supplement their basic knowledge about haemophilia. Unlike previous cases, they faced no complications from medication. They patients rated 96 per cent on satisfaction scale.
There are around 4,000 haemophilia sufferers in Thailand, including 14 in Nan province. Haemophilia requires lifelong treatment and medication and exposes people to life threatening situations should they bleed as a result of an accident.
The annual awards event this year saw 630 items of research nominated and another 112 innovations for disabled people.
Three awards in other categories were given to Walailak Methaphat, for research on tests of two types of steroids in herbbased products; a tenyear study on treatment of broken coccyx bones in elder patients by Dr Natthaphong Wongwiwat; and a study on vaccination for students in the primary level, by Aimorn Rajjamroensuk.