Seeking a good doctor in Thailand? Try this antibiotics trick
Re: “Avoid antibiotics for a cold: expert”, The Nation, yesterday.
He is a real expert. Most Thai doctors prescribe antibiotics for every little illness – including colds.
Every time I sneeze or have a slight cold I hear Thais say “go to the doctor. Get some medicine.”
Antibiotics can never help cure a cold. Antibiotics kill bacteria. Colds are caused by viruses. Antibiotics can be used to cure complications arising from bad colds but not the colds.
petedk
This report illustrates a huge gap in most or all education systems regarding basic anatomy, food and drugs. Hopefully it jump-starts a few bright kids to enter the medical profession.
YetAnother
Over-prescription of antibiotics is a problem the world over. Once resistance becomes a problem, the pharmaceutical companies will make a fortune creating the next drug to be over-prescribed. The system works up to a point, until there are just no drugs left to create.
Nice article, but of course it is unlikely to change anything.
williamgeorgeallen
Annually antibiotic resistance deaths in Thailand number 38,000, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In all of Europe the figure is 25,000. Says it all really.
It isn’t purely a doctor issue – though many doctors do over-prescribe here. But it is also a societal issue. My doctor tells my Thai wife and I that we are her favourites as we do not ask for drugs. She says that if she says no to other patients’ demands for drugs, they will make a complaint about her and have their children moved to be seen by another doctor who WILL prescribe.
Just a lack of education really. My mother-in-law was surprised when our baby magically got better by herself every time she had a cold, and she is now is going around the village telling other families not to use antibiotics.
It is one reason that as a 27-year-old, my primary doctor in Thailand is a paediatrician. And why I have made her the family doctor. I tried many other doctors in the area and the majority of them were not that great or did want to prescribe. (To test them, I would ask for drugs if they diagnosed a cold.) Educate your family and find one doctor who you do trust here, and just stick with them. No excuses these days, there are viral vs bacterial posters up around hospitals everywhere.
wildewillie89
