Health Ministry to develop Thai traditional, herbal medicine

BANGKOK, June 14 (TNA) - The Public Health Ministry plans to further improve production of Thai traditional and Thai herbal medicine so that they could be exported overseas, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market, said Minister Dr.Rajata Rajatanavin. He told journalists that three agencies under the ministry including the Food and Drug Administration, the Department for Development of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, and the Department of Medical Sciences have jointly developed both the Thai traditional and herbal medicine such as their registration which would take only 90 from 160 days now. Experts of the Department for Development of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine have been assigned to consider applications, safety and efficiency of the medicines while the Food and Drug Administration will consider on the new system of registration which might need to hire third party for an assistance, said Dr. Rajata. Development on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards are also being considered as about 50 out of over 1,000 medicine manufacturers are large-sized and have potential for development which are accepted in the overseas markets, he said. The remainder of over 800 factories are either medium or small-sized and still use conventional production system and need to be developed so that they could export their products to ASEAN, said Dr. Rajata.