About health

Blood plasma products (essential for kidney diseases, cancer, diabetes, haemophilia) will be produced in-country instead of importing.

The image above is of the blood clotting Factor VIII protein that is among the blood plasma products to be produced by a Red Cross plant in Samut Prakan. Photo below of a blood plasma bag commonly used in hospitals.

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HEALTH: Red Cross plans local plasma plant by Apiradee Treerutkuarkul

The Thai Red Cross Society plans to set up a factory in Samut Prakan to produce plasma to reduce the amount spent on importing blood products and to extend access to related treatments.

If it goes ahead, the plant will be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. Construction is set to begin by the end of this year and is expected to be completed by 2015, said Dr Pinit Kullavanijaya, chairman of the working panel on the planned construction of the factory.

Dr Pinit unveiled the plan after the agency yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with South Korea-based Green Cross Corporation to receive a technological transfer for the production of three plasma products, namely Albumin, Intravenous Immunoglobulin and Factor VIII.

The three products are essential in treating illnesses such as kidney diseases, cancer, diabetes, haemophilia and systemic lupus erythematosus, a chronic autoimmune disorder.

"The import of these plasma products cost the country more than 879 million baht in 2008 alone," Dr Pinit said.

So, the establishment of the plant will help strengthen national healthcare security and our treatment capacity in the long run.

In Thailand, the demand for Albumin, IVIG and Factor VIII increased by 18%, 10% and 30%, respectively, between 2004 and 2008.

The demand for the three plasma products for patient care nationwide is predicted to reach more than 3.36 million units by 2019, Dr Pinit said

He said once the factory is operational, it will have a plasma production capacity of 200,000 litres a year.

At present, the National Blood Centre of the Thai Red Cross Society is only able to produce frozen plasma to treat acute dengue and haemorrhagic fever and hepatitis B and make the serum for rabies, Dr Pinit said.

More than 1.3 million people are hospitalised each year in Thailand with cancer, diabetes and kidney disease, according to the Public Health Ministry.

Food and Drug Administration deputy secretary-general Pongphan Wongmanee said the FDA would be responsible for monitoring the manufacturing of the three products and granting registration licences for local use.

(Source: Bangkok Post, HEALTH, Red Cross plans local plasma plant, 20/07/2011, Apiradee Treerutkuarku, link)

Medical Vocabulary

Thai Red Cross Society - the branch of the Red Cross in Thailand, founded in 1893 (See Wikipedia) สภากาชาดไทย 

Red Cross - an international organization that cares for the sick or wounded or homeless in wartime and natural disasters, the red cross symbol protects them from attack, founded in 1864 with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the Red Cross is famous for the volunteers working for the organisation and for providing blood for medical purposes (See Wikipedia)

plasma - blood plasma, the liquid part of blood that contains dissolved carbon dioxide, nutrients, glucose, proteins, minerals, hormones, clotting factors, enzymes, fibronogen and other substances, makes up about 55 percent of total blood and is 93% water, the blood cells (erythrocytes, leukocytes, and thrombocytes) are suspended in this liquid. Blood plasma is prepared by spinning a tube of fresh blood containing an anti-coagulant in a centrifuge until the blood cells fall to the bottom of the tube. The blood plasma is then poured or drawn off. (See Wikipedia and Google Definitions)

plasma plant - a factory for producing blood plasma
local - in this country (here: Thailand)
local plasma plant - a plant for producing plasma located in Thailand (so essential blood products do not need to be imported)

spent - used ที่ใช้ไป
extend - to include something more ยืดออกไป ขยายออกไป
access - the right or opportunity to have or use something ได้รับสิทธิ์หรือโอกาสในการใช้

treat - treat a disease, when a doctor gives to a patient with the medicine and other things needed to cure a disease or medical condition (make the person better, recover from a disease)
treatment (noun) - the medicine and other things that a doctor gives to a patient to cure a disease
medical condition - a word that covers all the things that doctors do (wider than "disease", a broken bone is not a disease, for example)

plan goes ahead - if the project plan proposal is approved and the project begins

expected - believe will happen คาดว่า (จะเกิดขึ้น)
working panel - a group of people brought together to discuss, investigate, and give advice on a subject
construction - the work of building or making something, especially buildings, bridges, etc. การก่อสร้าง

unveiled - introduced แนะนำ announced something officially that was previously a secret เปิดเผย
unveiled the plan - introduce a plan for the first time (the public did not know about it before this)

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) - an informal agreement to do something in the future, is not legally binding so plans could be changed, less formal phrase meaning same thing: "gentleman's agreement" (See Wikipedia)

transfer - give from one person or group to another, to move someone or something from one place, vehicle, person or group to another ย้าย
technological transfer - when one organisation or country which already has a technology, provides the technology to an organisaiont or country that does not have the technology yet

Albumin - the most abundant protein component of blood, produced primarily in the liver, helps to keep the fluid portion of blood within the vessels (stabilizes extracellular fluid volume), and helps transport drugs and other substances, often given to individuals who need to retain more fluid in their bloodstream, such as burn victims or patients with liver failure or extremely heavy bleeding (hemorrhage), experiences heat coagulation (protein denaturation), also a carrier protein for steroids, fatty acids, and thyroid hormones (See Wikipedia and Google Definitions)

Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) - a solution of antibodies taken from healthy donors and injected into the veins of people with low or abnormal antibody production to help protect them from infections and boost their immune response to serious illness, contains the immunoglobulin or antibody IgG, used in the prevention of bacterial infections in children with HIV. Sometimes used to treat low platelet counts in people with AIDS, also called intravenous gamma globulin (IGG) (See Wikipedia and Google Definitions)

Factor VIII - an essential blood clotting factor participating in blood coagulation, deficiency in coagulation factor VIII is the cause of haemophilia A, also known as anti-hemophilic factor (AHF) (See Wikipedia)

blood clotting - when a blood vessel is injured, a thickened mass of blood and other body tissue forms that blocks blood, it is made of platelets, red blood cells, and clotting proteins such as collagen and thrombin, also called a "thrombus", the chemical process of forming a clot has many steps involving many clotting or coagulation factors, also called "hemostasis" (See Wikipedia)
blood clot - (See Wikipedia and Google Definitions)
blood clotting factors - one of the chemicals involved in forming a blood clot, one chemical activates another chemical in a "clotting cascade" (See Wikipedia)

coagulation factor - same as "blood clotting factor"
blood coagulation - roughly same as "blood clotting"
coagulate - to become solid (change from liquid or fluid to solid mass)

protein - large molecules that are an essential part of all living organisms, especially as structural components of body tissues such as muscle, hair, collagen, etc., and as enzymes and antibodies, proteins are composed of one or more long chains of amino acids (See Wikipedia and Google Definitions)

essential - necessary and important ที่จำเป็น ที่สำคัญ

kidney - one of the two organs in your body that clean your blood and remove waste ไต (See Wikipedia)
cancer - a growth or lump (neoplasm, tumour) that spreads to other parts of the body (metastasis) มะเร็ง (See Wikipedia)

diabetes - a serious medical condition in which your body does not produce enough insulin to reduce the amount of sugar in the blood, this results in high blood sugar levels that can be life-threatening โรคเบาหวาน (See Wikipedia)

haemophilia - an inherited or genetic blood clotting disorder cauing excessive bleeding, occurs almost exclusively in males, caused by low levels, or absence of, a blood protein that is essential for clotting; haemophilia A is caused by a lack of the blood clotting protein factor VIII; haemophilia B is caused by a deficiency of factor IX, Haemophilia A  is the most common form of the disorder, occurring at about 1 in 5,000–10,000 male births (See Wikipedia and Google Definitions)

systemic - affecting the whole system or body ซึ่งเป็นระบบ
systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) - a serious inflammatory disease occurring mainly among middle-aged women involving the attack by the body’s immune system on one’s own organs, can affect nearly every organ in the body with periodic episodes of inflammation of and damage to joints, muscles, bones, skin, blood vessels and blood cells, brain and nerve tissue, heart, lungs, kidneys, stomach and intestines, and eyes. It also causes total body symptoms like fever, fatigue, and weight loss, has a characteristic butterfly rash on the face (See Wikipedia and Google Definitions)

chronic - (of a disease or pain) devleloping over and lasting for a long time เป็นประจำ (the opposite of "acute")
autoimmune disorder - autoimmune disease, diseases that arise from "an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the body actually attacks its own cells" (See Wikipedia and Google Definitions)

import - to buy or bring in products from another country นำเข้า

national - for the whole country
healthcare - the treatment and prevention of diseases and other medical problems
security - the activity of making safe or protecting from harm
national healthcare security - policy for making the whole country safe and protecting it from harm

treatment - the process of providing medical care การรักษา
capacity - the greatest amount of work that can be done  ความสามารถ (ความจุ) ในการจัดการ
treatment capacity - the greatest number of treatments that can be given to sick people

demand - the need and desire of customers to buy goods and services

patient - someone who is receiving medical treatment คนป่วย, คนไข้
patient care - treating patients for diseases and medical conditions

nationwide - throughout the whole country ทั่วทั้งประเทศ
predict - say what you think will happen in the future
production capacity - the greatest amount that can produced (if all the machines and equipment in a factory are used all the time)

operational - working and doing what was planned able to work normally ที่สามารถใช้งานได้
factory is operational - factory is working and producing things

frozen - when water turns to ice, when something stops moving
frozen plasma - blood plasma frozen and kept at low temperatures, so that it can be stored for long periods before use without "spoiling" and going bad

acute - happening suddenly
fever - an abnormally high body temperature ไข้

FDA - Food and Drug Administration, the government agency that checks food and drug products for safety
monitoring - regularly checking an ongoing activity or process (to check for problems or collect information) จับตาดู

granting - officially giving (changing ownership, not lending for a time period)
registration - recording in an official list
granting registration licences for local use - giving hospitals and clinics in local areas permission to use for treatments