Thailand’s Public Health Ministry keeps vaccine for diphtheria in reserve

BANGKOK, Nov 3 (TNA) - Thailand’s Public Health Ministry has kept 10 million doses of vaccine for treating diphtheria for 2013 in reserve, after providing treatment to patients contracted from the disease in 15 provinces, mostly in the North and Northeast regions. The Public Health Ministry’s Deputy Permanent Secretary Dr. Sophon Mekthon said on Saturday that he had held a meeting with public health doctors stationed in those 15 provinces in which diphtheria patients were found via a video conference with an objective to monitor the current situation and to also prevent the disease from spreading. Only four new patients of the disease were found in three provinces last month and all of them were fully treated, showing that the situation has improved, said Dr. Sophon, adding that his ministry has organised training on treating the disease for public health doctors while medical experts on diphtheria in Bangkok are prepared to offer advice to provincial doctors round-the-clock. The senior health official advised that people living in those 15 provinces where the disease is found should take vaccination as precaution. (TNA)