In October 2019, Thailand’s universal healthcare scheme introduced the “Pharmacies Near Your Home” service. It enables patients with chronic illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, asthma, or psychiatric disorders to receive medicines from pharmacies close to their residences.
Over 1,000 pharmacies and almost 30,000 patients participated in the project in 2019.
Dr. Roongnapa Khampang, researcher at the Health Systems Research Institute, cited a survey showing each patient saved an average of 58 minutes by visiting pharmacies instead of hospitals. The survey was conducted at 15 hospitals, where overcrowding was found to have fallen by 8.5%.
“Patients’ travel expenses dropped by 71% and patients’ counseling time rose by three minutes,” she says.
Moreover, the survey showed patients participating in the project were “very satisfied” with the services. They were happy that they could save time, avoid making long trips, and benefit from attentive pharmacists.
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