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Home » Reader question » Reader question: Bringing medicines to Thailand
Reader question: Bringing medicines to Thailand
Dear readers of Thailand blog,
I have a question for you. I do not know what the average age of Thailand visitors is, but it is often 50+.
Unfortunately, when getting older it is often necessary to use more medicines and for those who are still insured in the Netherlands, they are of course taken from the Netherlands.
Question: I have a medicine passport from the pharmacy, but do I have to declare something if I Thailand come in or an extra statement? For me it is often half a suitcase full for about 5 months.
Who has experience with this?
Frank Franssen
I use some medicines in the Netherlands on a Dutch doctor's prescription. I have bought medicines in Thailand with the same effect.
These are reimbursed by my Dutch insurer via an available form when there is a Dutch doctor's prescription for it. Even when the costs in Thailand are higher than in the Netherlands. (in the Netherlands you sometimes get generic medicines, while in Thailand I could only get equivalent brand medicines that were more expensive) these more expensive medicines are reimbursed by the Dutch insurance.
In my opinion, you only need to bring those medicines that you know or suspect are not available in Thailand. Quickly saves a quarter of a suitcase.
Whoa!!!!! a quarter suitcase worth of medicine!!?? Are you sure you want to go to Thailand? In Thailand, many medicines are much, much cheaper than in Holland and I'm not talking about fakes. But, don't get it from the farang hospitals because they sometimes charge 10 times the going pharmacy price
Frank, I also have a medicine passport drawn up by the doctor (in English). I have no further problems when I enter Thailand. I do have to say. I have been to Thailand 24 times but have never been stopped.
I have been taking medicines with me from the Netherlands for years. I think a medicine passport from the pharmacist is sufficient, although I have never been checked. You only have to declare this at the baggage check if you have insulin in your hand luggage.
GeeWee gives the correct answer. Insofar as you take medication with you, a statement from the Pharmacy is sufficient.
Medicines are super cheap in Thailand. Or rather the other way around, you pay the actual price here and in the Netherlands medicines are super expensive because of the cartel formation of the pharmaceutical industry, government regulation and insurance. If you don't need very specific medicines, you can just buy them here for next to nothing in any pharmacy. Some pharmacies sell by prescription others just sell you everything they have. For more specific medicines, it is better to go to a hospital pharmacy.
A medication passport is always wise.
In fact, it's just an A four that says it all, and the fact that you are entitled to have it with you.
Usually you won't experience any problems, but think about people who have to inject, diabetes or something like that, you'll just be standing somewhere and those guys are being difficult, just explain it, in a language you don't or hardly master.
I myself need 1 and the other, not always, but just have to have it with me in case the chaos breaks out, 1 of which is an opiate, just one step below morphine ......
We once stood at a transition from Laos to Vietnam, a doctor was there, and luckily I had everything well organized.
Malaysia can also be difficult, zero tolerance with drugs!
What it is also useful for is the fact that you can get rid of the medicines, in this way you can show what you need, and that you can have these medicines.
Another tip: If you travel a lot, for example with a backpack, pack everything in a plastic bag and divide it into 2 portions, if you are in pairs, do it in 2 backpacks, if you are alone, carry a small amount on your body.
If you lose everything then you still have enough left to bridge the time you need to get new medication.
Countries like Cambodia it will be very difficult to get there, then return to Thailand asap, for simple medicines just go to a normal hospital, not an expensive private hospital, and pay yourself ivb with your own risk.
For more expensive things, you can contact your insurance company later.
I also take a lot of medication with me every time I go to Thailand and if I think something is becoming dangerous, I first walk to the airport police to ask if it is bothering me.
get along in thailand usually it is not the case if you have a medicine passport.
have fun in thailand
That is very late, what do you do when people say that it is better not to take it with you?
Do you no longer need them? I would rather ask that question and adjust my measures accordingly.
Here: http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/geneesmiddelen/vraag-en-antwoord/wat-moet-ik-doen-als-ik-medicijnen-wil-meenemen-op-reis-naar-het-buitenland.html, you will find everything. I take 6 different pills a day and take each time for 8 months. So a fair amount. Never had any problems with the pharmacy card. Leave everything in the original packaging.
It only becomes a lot more complicated if you have medicines that contain substances that fall under the Opium Act. Use the link above, everything is neatly explained there!
mrsgr. Martin.
Thank you all for the advices; in Pattaya is a very large pharmacy (Vacino?).
I'm going to ask what they have in stock. That comment about stomach protectors is correct. My pharmacy alerted me to them and I have been using them ever since.
This is how you learn something from each other!
Frank
You may never just take medicines that fall under the Opium Act abroad, only after you have arranged all the papers for it. The latter is quite complicated and will take you a few weeks, but it is necessary to avoid major problems. There's more to the Opium Act than you think. Is very easy to check with Google on the internet wherever it is described how to get those papers in order.
Medicine problem towards Thailand? Indian stories.
The first few times people also tried to scare me.
I have been going to Thailand for a month three times a year since 1999.
I have never been stopped at the border!
These men are just sitting there!
However, I am regularly stopped along the way.
I live in Udon Thani and have family in Rayong. ±700 Km.
I have a Mitsubishi Tryton pickup and according to the law it can go up to 80 Km per hour.
On such a long distance, 100 pu is still a normal speed, because the through roads are no worse than those in the Netherlands.
It happens that I am stopped up to 3 times.
This costs 400 Bath per time.
But I learned from my family that if you have to give him your (Thai) driver's license, you should include a folded XNUMX Baht note with it, in a way that his colleagues cannot see it.
This has never been denied.
I also sometimes didn't do it because I only had a note of 1000 with me, then they look at the driver's license several times on both sides and say there is a problem.
A family member quickly gave him the 100 Baht and then we were allowed to continue.
Other than that, I've never had a problem with the police.
Go to an agent and ask him something in easy English.
He will do his utmost to help you, he loves to show that he understands you and can also say something back.
This will become even more intense in the future, because the government requires that by 2015 every public official must be reasonably intelligible in English.
This by merging 15 Asian countries. A kind of united states.
This is expected even from a Poojibaan.
For the elderly among us, this is the "Bromsnor" of a small village, the village police officer.
Salute and Sjok Die
Jan
Every year I also take the necessary medicines with me on holiday to Thailand. A medical passport is sufficient, but if you do indeed use insulin or something similar, you must first inform yourself properly. I myself have been using morphine for a year and I have a special letter from the doctor who has prescribed it. This must be in English and the name of the doctor and the relevant hospital. So that you can contact the doctor in case of problems. No problems to date.
I have no problem with the general content of your comment, but one thing I find pure nonsense, namely as you say "The chance that your suitcase will not arrive is very high and then you will hang"... I have been coming to Thailand for 12 years, three flights a year, never had any problem with a suitcase not arriving, not even heard of from the many friends I have in Thailand. What you said there is firm about it, please don't frighten people who have no experience yet.
More than 60 x Thailand trips, 1 x my suitcase (KLM) a day late. Neatly brought to the hotel Never lost anything.
With regard to medicines, sometimes half a suitcase with me, medical passport (yellow booklet) from the pharmacy is sufficient. Never had any problems at customs. Unfortunately, the right medicines are not always available in Thailand and are sometimes even considerably more expensive and often only in private hospitals.
Dear tjamuk, you ask me what I mean by: “what you said there is quite strong”, well that is a common expression in Belgium to indicate that someone is exaggerating greatly, nothing more or less. People then say “ it is very strong about it”.
Didn't lose your suitcase? Do you know how many thousands of suitcases get lost every year. (only with KLM) ?
There is even a compensation for this, even if the suitcase turns up again a few days later.
Frank F
Half a suitcase full of pills yes that can cause problems. They don't do all those weird things like medicine in PP here. You can buy everything for a fraction of the Dutch price without a prescription from the pharmacists here. I always bring from Thailand to the Netherlands. Medicines here often cost only a tenth of the exorbitant Dutch price,
hello, i am leaving for thailand on february 20th and i am taking 3 types of medication, mirtazepine
tranxene and temazepam, for me it is the latter that also falls under the opiates
kind response
gr
nothing
@ Rien Have you submitted your question to a doctor. He says: The medicines are not opiates, but customs don't know that either. It is always wise to bring a statement in English stating that the doctor has prescribed this medication to that person.
Hello Rien,
Temazepam falls under the Opium Act, despite the fact that it is a "regular" sleep/sedative, so I would still ask for a statement from the doctor and follow the whole process.
Regards,
Lex K.
I have never understood why sleeping pills (so-called inslapertjes eg Imovane) as we know them in the Netherlands are prohibited here. As soon as you go to a doctor here and ask for a sleeping pill, they will prescribe you Alprazolam (Xanax) or Valium. Incomprehensible because before you know it you are addicted to that mess.
By the way, you don't even have to go to a doctor for Alprazolam and/or Valium; most pharmacists, even in the smallest hamlets, simply sell these “medicines” “over the counter”. So without a prescription.
Perhaps our all “Tino”, retired GP, knows the answer?
Pujai,
Pharmaceutical industries need to make money. Zoplicon (Imovane) is not an innocent 'fall asleep', it has almost the same side effects, also in terms of habituation, as alprazolam (Xanax) and diazepam (Valium, which, however, works much longer).
I don't know what is or isn't sold under the counter in Thailand.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zopiclone
@Tino,
Thanks for your comment. As a conclusion (otherwise it will be chatting..) the following. Alprazolam belongs to the group of benzodiazapines, Zoplicon does not.
Benzos, as you no doubt know, are VERY addictive. Stopping with Alprazolam is therefore many times more difficult than stopping with a drug such as Imovane (Zoplicon).
Hence my surprise that in Thailand they are so spastic about Zoplicon (may not even be imported) while Alprazolam is simply freely available…
Anyway, let's classify this under the chapter "unsolved questions!"
Hallo,
I am leaving for Bangkok on 27-04-2013 and I now also want to sleep well on the plane, so my doctor has prescribed Temazepam and I have received 6 tablets, but this falls under the Opium Act.
I have received a travel document/medication survey from the pharmacy and is this sufficient to demonstrate that I use it.
I also have other medications that are in it.
I hope someone here can tell me more.
Best regards.
Gerrit.
Hello Gerrit,
I can tell you a lot about medication and what can and what cannot be taken to Thailand without any problems, but then I need some more information.
About the Temazepam, that indeed falls under the opium law and may not be imported just like that, officially you need a legalized statement, arrange it at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and have it stamped at the Thai embassy,
But 6 tablets of temazepam just to get a good night's sleep on a flight is a lot, especially if you are not used to that stuff, 20 mg should be more than enough in that case, it is a short-acting drug, so you will get something from Sleep 6 to 8 hours.
A travel document / medication survey is absolutely not sufficient to prevent problems in Thailand, it will really have to be legalized.
Regards,
Lex K.