Pharmaceutical Preparedness for Public Health Emergency in Thailand: What Can Be Learned From Other Countries?

Threats to any facet of national security tend to create public health emergency. Most public health emergencies require pharmaceutical preparedness. This study aimed to review existing system for pharmaceutical preparedness for public health emergency and compared it to experiences from other countries. Reviews of literature and documents from concerned authorities and solicitation of opinions and consensus from experts were carried out to identify deficiencies in the current system of Thailand and how they can be remedied. In terms of legal provisions, the system of Thailand had several laws and regulations that dealt, at least, indirectly with pharmaceutical preparedness. However, these legal provisions were quite disconnected and did not deal adequately with the public health emergency. As a result, there was no strategic direction that addressed pharmaceutical preparedness specifically. For instance, there was no clear strategy as to whether stockpiles should be set up for all essential medicines or for certain medicines that needed to be readily available at hands when they were to be used (e.g. antidotes). The Ministry of Public Health, directly responsible for the preparedness, set up only a functional unit to implement the task. However, the unit was underfunded and understaffed. It was found that operations of the unit were adequate only for emergency of seasonal and predictable nature; but not for emergency situations which were of big magnitude, extreme urgency, marked severity, and/ or unpredictable nature. Key words: public health emergency, preparedness, pharmaceuticals, medical supplies