Hospitals clamp down on glucosamine use
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In a bid to reduce costs, Siriraj Hospital, Ramathibodi Hospital and Chulalongkorn Hospital will no longer provide glucosamine sulphate to arthritis patients registered with the civil service insurance plan.
The move comes after the Finance Ministry instructed all health-care providers treating civil servants to stop administering glucosamine from November 1.
Prof Dr Udom Kachintorn, dean of the Mahidol University Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj, said the hospital had prescribed more than one million sacks of glucosamine sulphate per month. Each sack of fluid costs Bt30, with each patient using two to four sacks per day. Now, patients who want glucosamine – the effectiveness of which is inconclusive – must pay for it out of their own pockets.
