GSK Thailand launches 'medicine bank' to help disaster victims

Built on an initiative that GSK has undertaken for more than four years, the new programme “From the Heart, For your Health” will improve access to medicine and health care treatment for the underprivileged and victims of disasters.

It will also provide greater knowledge on preventive measures and basic health care, which should reduce the incidence of communicable and epidemic diseases and help create a society of sharing.

GSK has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Thai Red Cross Society’s Relief and Community Health Bureau (RCHB) to work together on the project.

According to Viriya Chongpaisal, general manager of GSK Thailand, since 2011 GSK has broadened access to medicine for Thai people and improved the quality of their lives. The GSK medicine bank, a programme in collaboration with the Thai Red Cross Society, was introduced to increase access to quality medicines and health care education for underprivileged people and support them.

The Thai Red Cross Society, as a central organisation, has supervised the donation of innovative medicines and vaccines through the GSK medicine bank.

GSK provides a team of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and employee volunteers who make site visits together with the RCHB, Royal Thai Army, participating hospitals and related organisations to help underprivileged people and victims of disasters in provinces nationwide.

“During our field trips together with the RCHB over the past several years, we met affected people in many provinces,” said Viriya. “We realised the need for people to receive quality medicine and ... understood the common concern of people in many areas that health is wealth,” he said. 

“To satisfy the real need of Thai people for access to medicine … we introduced the GSK medicine bank for hardship relief programme. We worked with the RCHB to ensure needy people and disaster victims had medicine, health care treatment and prevention, engaging with people who wanted wellness and needed relief from hardship. Knowledge about health and dealing with hardship is needed to encourage healthier, happier lifestyles, prevent and minimise diseases related to public disasters as well as infectious and epidemic diseases, and create a society of sharing, encouraging public engagement in the development of Thailand’s health care and public health system.”

The GSK’s medicine bank for hardship relief programme will run for three years until 2017. Key activities of the initiative include:

Access to medicines: On RCHB’s request, GSK will donate health-related products such as solutions for allergic dermatitis and oral health care products for needy people in remote areas, while providing physicians, pharmacists and GSK employees who have volunteered to work with the RCHB to help disaster victims and needy people.

Engaging with people: GSK will work to identify what types of basic health care and hardship relief information people in particular areas really need and, in collaboration with the RCHB, send a team of GSK doctors, pharmacists and volunteer employees to visit areas and provide help. Health care knowledge and relief assistance information will be disseminated.

Lt-General Dr Amnat Baelee, director of the Relief and Community Health Bureau (RCHB), said, “Our mission is to provide relief services for victims of disasters, underprivileged people and those who live in remote areas. The GSK medicine bank for hardship relief programme marks a collaborative effort with a corporation that realises the importance of assisting disaster affected and underprivileged people.

“The programme will be a major contribution to driving our activities in areas such as hardship relief, public health, first-aid education, health care communication and being a source of health care information.

“This will encourage Thai people to be healthy with an improved quality of life in accordance with the RCHB’s philosophy of addressing health-related problems,” he said.