A state-run hospital in the Umphang border district of the northern province of Tak, is urging people to donate unused medication prescribed for a past illness to help prop up waning supplies.
Umphang Hospital currently doesn't have the funds to care for the volume of stateless people and Myanmar nationals crossing the border into Thailand for medical treatment at the moment, Dr Worawit Tantiwattanasap, the hospital director, said yesterday.
These patients, whose health care isn't covered by any insurance schemes in Thailand, account for 21% of the total number of cases at the hospital, he said.
The number of Myanmar patients, in particular, has risen as violence in the neighbouring country impacts the capacity of its healthcare system to handle all those in need of treatment, he said.
After being sorted and inspected, donated medicines are assigned with a new, shorter expiry date to ensure they remain effective when prescribed to these patients, said the doctor. The newly assigned expiry dates range from three months to six months, he said.
However, in the three months since the hospital made its first call for donations, 422 kilogrammes of medicines received needed to be disposed of after they were found to be unusable, he said.
He, therefore, encouraged all interested parties to make sure the drugs they are going to donate are still within their expiry period and have been well stored for later use.