Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - February 15, 2001
Apaluck Bhatiasevi
The 240 million-baht plan will cater to 1,500 HIV-positive patients nationwide.
Health spokesperson Nitaya Mahabhol said the programme was expected to prolong the lives of HIV/Aids patients, many of whom had difficulty getting the drugs.
The drugs will go to 632 patients from six upper Northern provinces which face critical HIV/Aids problems.
Eight different triple-drug combinations which mainly include AZT, 3TC, ddI and a protease inhibitor will be distributed for free, in varying amounts depending on the patient's condition.
Ms Nitaya said the drugs, obtained after talks between the Communicable Diseases Control Department and foreign drug companies, will be 40-50% cheaper than those available on the market.
Communicable Diseases Control director-general Somsong Rakphao said the project would evaluate the health effects of the drugs. He said the drugs had to be used efficiently because most anti-retroviral drugs were expensive and had strong side effects.
Bandon Kamrangsri, representing a network of people with HIV/Aids from the upper North, said criteria for choosing patients should be fair.
Mr Bandon said he personally felt that drugs for treating opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis, skin infections, diarrhoea, meningococcal meningitis and so on should be considered more urgent.
"Anti-retroviral drugs are considered supplementary drugs, which means it is not necessary for patients to take them.
"On the other hand, opportunistic infections occur to almost all HIV-positive people," he said.
Nimit Tien-udom, spokesman for Access, an Aids counselling service, said most NGOs felt the anti-retroviral drugs should be made more widely available.
He said instead of providing triple-combination therapy as proposed, the ministry could allocate double combination drugs to larger numbers of patients.
"Though triple therapy is an internationally recommended regimen, considering Thailand's financial standards, we should be able to stay on double combination for at least two years before moving on to triple drugs," he said.
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