Bang Rak Hospital becomes one-stop sex health service, wellness centre
Bang Rak Hospital, which specialises in sexually transmitted infections (STIs), has been upgraded to a medical centre for providing one-stop services for sex-related health and wellness problems.
Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul presided over a ceremony on Friday morning to announce the hospital’s transformation into Bang Rak Medical Centre.
He was accompanied by Dr Kiartiphum Wongrachit, permanent secretary for Public Health.
Speaking during the ceremony, Anutin said Bang Rak Hospital has been an STI hospital for over 90 years and now the Disease Control Department has upgraded it to a one-stop service sex-related medical health centre.
The centre will provide examination, advice and treatment for STIs and skin diseases as well as administer hepatitis B vaccines. The centre will monitor the situation of STIs in the country and will make sure that the public would receive quality treatment, Anutin said.
He said the Public Health Ministry targets reducing the number of STI cases by 2030 with the goal of containing gonorrhoea cases to no more than 300,000 in that year and less than 100,000 syphilis cases.
Among the services, the centre would administer Pre-exposure prophylaxis drug to prevent new HIV cases and would screen women for possible cervical cancer by checking for the HPV virus.
The centre is equipped with advanced laboratories to conduct immunological, biological and molecular tests. The centre also will carry out drug research with foreign organisations with the goal of transforming into a wellness centre and an STIs prevention training centre in the future, Opas added.
Next year, the centre will also provide services like checking for hepatitis C, as well as health checking for people before they travel abroad or apply for jobs, annual health checks and vaccination services, Opas said.