BANGKOK, July 11 (AFP) - Thailand has listed five herbal treatments on its national drugs register, allowing hospitals to use them in place of modern medicines for the first time, officials said Tuesday.

Public Health Minister Korn Dabbaransi urged doctors to adopt the alternative therapies. which he said would cut down on the huge bill for imported Western medicines.

Many doctors were reluctant to use herbal treatments, partly because they were pocketing 'kick-backs' from the big pharmaceutical companies, for prescribing their drugs, he told the Bangkok Post.

Korn urged Thailand's Food and Drug Administration to resist pressure from the drug firms who might try to block the registration of locally-made herbs for fear of losing their grip on the market.

The herbs include phaya yo, a herpes treatment also known as Indian mulberry, turmeric capsules for indigestion, and fa thalai chon capsules to relieve sore throats.

The treatments have been selected from 4,000 herbs registered as traditional Thai medicines.

Korn said the approval meant Thailand's hospitals may now prescribe the drugs to patients in place of modern medicines.

"This decision is a milestone in the development of herbal medicines in Thailand and reaffirms the benefits of their use," he said in a statement.

"If we don't trust and support its use, who will?"

The minister said that although the treatments had been used unofficially for decades, like any other newly registered drug they would be closely monitored for potential side-effects.

National Drug Sub-Committee chairman Charas Suwannavaela said the list of traditional medicines would be reviewed every three months and other suitable herbs added to the national register.

Korn announced earlier this month Thai researchers had found a group of Chinese herbs which were as effective as Western drugs in slowing the progress of HIV, and two others which could fight lung cancer.

A cocktail of five herbs dramatically reduced the amount of virus in nine of 28 HIV-AIDS patients treated this year at a hospital in northern Chiang Mai, his department said.

And a two-herb combination was used to treat patients with final-stage lung cancer, extending their lives by between one and five years, it said.

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