Did my yearly viral load test, and still undetectable - and was time for my visit to Dr Praphan and medication refill. I have been taking generic Atripla, bought from the Thai Red Cross.
Seems that the Thai Red Cross is now restricting issuing of medication - perhaps someeone else can confirm any (very) recent update of their experience with them... but my Doc has now moved his patients over to the Pribta Clinic.
https://ihri.org/pribta/
Also there has been some changes that allow a generic version of the TLD single pill -containing Dolutegravir/Lamivudine/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate... this generic named Acriptega, and i'll be mvong over to it once my remaining Teevir(Atripla) is used up.
The change from the efavirenz in Atripla to the Dolutegravir in Acriptega is meant to have several advantages - stronger suppression, high barrier to resistance, less drug interactions and... https://healthgap.org/six-advantages-of-dolutegravir/
So, all sounds good.
Went to the Pribta clinic today for a year supply, so 12x bottles of 30 = 1440 baht.
Very quick and helpful - probably due to so many having left Bangkok for Songkhran.
Is also easy to get to, as its on the 11th floor of the office tower at Chamchurri Square, which you can get to at Sam Yan MRT station.
Also noticed the 'Tangerine' clinic for transgender health issues is also there - ptretty sure I saw them at the Thai Red Cross previsouly and that they'd left last time I was at the Thai Red Cross clinic, so not sure what is going on there... if you go the TRCAC website most links are empty or just filler - check this out (!) https://en.trcarc.org/office-hour/
joemutt:
something is changing there alright. they stopped shipping meds to upcountry also, as well as abroad. the latter I can understand; Chinese groups were bleeding them.
Mindless:
Hi,
just been at TRC last week for my regular 6 months blood test and I was actually surprised to find so few people there. Usually, the place is quite crowded, I've been going to TRC for the last 4 years and don't remember so few people on a Saturday. I thought maybe was for the recent Covid new wave in the news.
What do you mean by restricting issuing to medications? Honestly, nobody told me anything while I was there, nor did I see any warning/sign with information.
Their website has been on that poor condition for a very long time now, so I don't think that says much about recent changes.
I just switched to generic Dovato a few months ago and I'm satisfied, I really hope there are no restrictions or changes in the available meds. Anyways, the appointment with my hiv doc is just after Songkran, if there's any significant change at TRC he will know.
shizukav2:
I didn't ask if it's a restriction for only non-Thai - my Doc was also moving his Thai patients over to Pribta clinic.
Sounded a bit absurd - but maybe a result of the anonymous nature, except you'd still need to register for another anonymous id card at the Red Cross, and presumably get another prescription somehow to get multiple 'orders' of pills, so I don't see how it would be a big problem for masses of people somehow selling on medication (I wasn't aware they sold to outside Thailand, the in Thailand delivery option was a good step forward).
Pribta is excellent - you do have to register with an ID, so can't see any future issues with medication fraud or whatever...
Let us know what happens post Songkhran with your next refill if the Red Cross is still ok or not (and for 12 months rather than faffing around twice a year).
Mindless:
--- Quote from: shizukav2 on April 10, 2021, 07:25:04 am ---I didn't ask if it's a restriction for only non-Thai - my Doc was also moving his Thai patients over to Pribta clinic.
--- End quote ---
So, you're saying there's indeed a "restriction" in the access to meds?
--- Quote from: shizukav2 on April 10, 2021, 07:25:04 am ---Pribta is excellent - you do have to register with an ID, so can't see any future issues with medication fraud or whatever...
--- End quote ---
No way I'm going to register with a real id, at least not in Thailand.
--- Quote from: shizukav2 on April 10, 2021, 07:25:04 am ---Let us know what happens post Songkhran with your next refill if the Red Cross is still ok or not (and for 12 months rather than faffing around twice a year).