June 12, 2023
BANGKOK – The Public Health Ministry is implementing a five-year traditional Thai medicine development plan to boost wellness tourism, a government spokesman announced on Sunday.
Anucha Burapachaisri said outgoing Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha had acknowledged the five-year plan (2023-2027) for steering local traditional and alternative medicine to generate revenue for the country.
The plan aims to increase health security while preserving herbal-medicine wisdom via wellness tourism to attract more foreign visitors to the Kingdom, he added.
The plan has three main purposes:
– To develop treatment plans for people suffering chronic pain, sleep disorders, and drug addiction.
– To ensure hospitals and factories that make herbal medicine receive the good manufacturing practice (GMP) standard. Of the 61 public hospitals that currently make herbal medicine, 45 meet the GMP standard while seven are being upgraded to qualify.
– To develop Thai wellness centres that will attract both local and foreign tourists. So far, 160 of the country’s 570 Thai wellness centres have been certified under the plan.
Anucha said the five-year plan also has three key goals:
– To increase public confidence in traditional Thai medicine and boost the number of people using herbal medicine to cure minor health conditions from 1.48% of the population now to 15%.
– To increase the proportion of people seeking treatment from traditional medicine practitioners from 4.58% currently to 20%.
– To increase the value of medical herbs consumed in the country to 90 billion baht a year by 2027.
He said caretaker PM Prayut was confident the plan would boost local wisdom while also raising foreign visitors’ confidence in Thai wellness tourism.
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