The Thailand Network of People Living with HIV (HIV network) is calling on the National Health Security Office (NHSO) to provide more antiretroviral drugs to patients amid a shortage at the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO).
Apiwat Kwangkaew, chair of the HIV network, and other representatives filed a letter with the NHSO, demanding that the government agency solve the problem.
Mr Apiwat said the shortage of the drugs has been going on for a long time, with many patients having been prescribed month-long courses instead of for three to six months.
He said that the shortage has affected the lives of people who require such medication. Some of them were not prescribed the adequate amounts of pills required to resist HIV.
The shortage of HIV medication will eventually lead to overburdening at hospitals, he noted.
The GPO is responsible for providing medication to people living with HIV in Thailand via three programmes -- the social security, universal healthcare and government official schemes.
Mr Apiwat said the GPO should clarify why it fails to provide enough HIV medication to hospitals across the country.
"Even if people have enough money, they still cannot buy the medication. The GPO still has not paid for the medication bills that hospitals had reimbursed to their patients," Mr Apiwat said, adding the GPO can provide half of the medication needed by hospitals.
Mr Apiwat said he had spoken to GPO officials and found that the organisation had struggled with the drug's production for over a year, and the situation worsened this year.