The Thailand expat forum for Travel, Lifestyle and Fun.

Smeg

Pharmacists should be honest trustworthy people. That goes without saying. However, I have a real problem trusting their advice when they outright lie about obvious facts. It even happened once in a branch of Boots Thailand, hence I'd like to hear who and where people trust.

A typical example occurred earlier today. I went into a Bangkok pharmacists of which I'm guessing 5% of the clientele are foreigners. The pharmacist spoke passable English. I asked for a simple muscle-strain cream. She produced a huge 150 gram tube in a box and told me it was the best one and was imported from Switzerland. I asked her the price. She said 595 baht. I asked for something cheaper. She produced a 75 gram tube and demanded 350 baht for it. I looked at the box and it said it was manufactured in Ayuthaya under licence from a Swiss company. I showed her this and she said it was a printing error and that it was imported! I read the instruction sheet folded up inside which said this cream was to relieve advanced osteo-rhumatoid arthiritis. What a bitch! Plus I could see the stack of products under the counter from where she took this, and identical boxes were labelled 250 baht. Then, next to it was a product called "Counterpain" which I than asked for. She told me it was no good as it was made in Indonesia, so I asked her why she sold it. No answer. I bought it on that fact alone. 42 Baht.

pai nai ma

Counter pain is good stuff.

pai nai ma

For a Thai to stick his or her arm elbow-deep into an obviously rich falangs pocket and bend the truth a bit to cover it is simply good business practice in the LOS.

Camel Toe

^ You don't live in Thailand. What do you care?

Never have I seen such a price differential on pharmaceuticals like in Thailand. It's logical those in high rent locals should charge more, but it's random.

I use Ranitadine for stomach acids. I can get them for 20B, 30B, 35B, 40B, or 50B. So if they cost 20Baht over the counter they mustn't cost more than 13B from the distributor. From 13B to 50B? Quite a little profit. I'm not poor and I can live without them and we can't forget they'd cost 20X that much back home. But why rip off sick, poor people with the more important, necessary drugs as they do?

dirtydog

I went to a pharmacy with gonerea, all I wanted was some tavarids to get rid of it, the lady, who was quite cute, young and sexy asked me to step round the back, gets me to whoop out percy, she then kneels down in front of me and starts holding it in her hand as she had a good look at it, no gloves or anything, I thought it was great, they didn't have any tavarids though

__________________

pai nai ma

whoop out or whip out?

Percy sounds a bit elegant.
More of a leslie or clive, i would have thought.

Happyman

I went to Bangkok Phuket Hospital recently with an infected cut.
Doctors fee = 1200 baht
Antibiotic course of pills =1600 baht.

Come back for a second course if it dosn't clear up said the Doc no need to see him - just go to the hospital pharmacy .

Needed more but it was pissing down with rain - didn't feel like riding bike to town- popped into my local pharmacy with the empty packet.

Identical imported pills - 780 baht !!!!!

Smeg

^ 250 baht for a thai though

Texpat

Ripoffs everyday, left and right.
I buy almost nothing here anymore. My wife knows what I want. I trust her and I send her to get it. One of the biggest negatives about living here.

Shameful absolute pettiness.

Smeg

The sad thing is that I'm quite sure the woman trying to pass herself off as a professional to sell me advanced osteo-rhumatoid arthiritis cream wouldn't have given a flying fuck if using it caused me some kind of medical problem. All she could see was the random farang and the wallet in the farang's hand. She knows that she is untouchable, especially by a foreigner.

Happyman

Undoubtedly correct but still a saving on the BPH price !

Texpat

BPH? A little light on this?

good2bhappy

If you need a trustworthy Pharmacist I know many.
I have to say it helps if you are medically trained when talking to them or you might find you will pay over the mark.

rawlins

I had one instance of a good honest pharmacist on Soi Buakao, Pattaya...

I went in and asked for 'Zovirax' which is a cold sore cream and the only brand name I could remember... Small tube was about 500 baht but the pharmacist pulled out another cream and said "Same thing, made in Thailand... 200 baht"...

So they aren't all bad.... You could always try asking what they would sell to a Thai person...

Indoexile

yeah I tell my mechanic that I'm automobilelly trained, but he still rips me off, in fact today he wants $70 for 4 litres of oil!

Smeg

On the surface, perhaps. But dig deeper and you would have probably found out that she paid 400 baht for the imported one and 50 baht for the locally produced one.

Anyone know if there is a major fake drugs problem here as in China? I always try to use Boots, who are the only pharmacist I trust with not using fakes.

rawlins

^.. lol... Possibly... here's me thinking she was doing me a good deed too...

Saved me 300 baht and did the trick...

DrAndy

There is certainly a fake drugs problem, but it is difficult to tell how bad it is

any stats include those drugs which, although fake, are actually good generic drugs that are identical to the original version

Norton

......

Smeg

Scary