PHA-Exch> Please Sign on Letter asking the new Thai Minister of Health to stand firm on Compulsory Licenses

[Claudio Schuftan]

Please consider signing this letter of solidarity initiated by Thai
activists, urging the new Minister of Health to maintain compulsory
licenses issued by his predecessor.

For background information on the new minister's review of the
compulsory licenses, see: http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=914

For background information on Thailand's pathbreaking compulsory
licenses on two HIV drugs and a cancer medication, see:
http://www.essentialaction.org/access/index.php?/archives/73-Access-to-Medicines-in-Thailand-Interference-by-the-United-States.html

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From: Kannikar KIJTIWATCHAKUL <kakablue at yahoo.com>

Dear international activists and advocates
     You may have already heard that the new Thai
minister of Public Health will probably review the
previous government's decision to issue 4 more CLs on
cancer medicines.
    We, on behalf of the Thai civil society, would
like to ask for your support by signing your name in
this letter
to convince the new government to stand firm to its
predecessor's decision to issue CL to increase greater
access to medicines.
    Please return this e-mail giving your name and
name of your organization to kakablue at yahoo.com by
February 15, 2008.  We will organize a press
conference on this issue on February 18, 2008.

..............

Your Excellency,

On behalf of civil society movements and NGOs working
on health and human rights, we would like to extend
our sincere congratulations to you on your appointment
as  Minister of Public Health of Thailand.

       Your Excellency, as you may realize, the fact that
many Thai people still do not have access to a number
of life saving essential medicines is one of our major
concerns. Indeed, the right to the highest attainable
standard of health is enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the current
Constitution of Thailand, and access to essential
medicines plays a critical role in fulfilling this
right. However, the privatization of medicine in the
form of patent protection is a major obstacle that
currently blocks the path to putting in place a plan
that can rapidly expand access to life saving
treatments. While patents reward years of research and
development, they can at the same time increase the
public burden by maintaining unacceptably high prices
for some essential medicines.

May we take this opportunity to ask Your Excellency
for the position of the Ministry of Public Health and
the new government on the policies to be implemented
to ensure an equitable increase in access to essential
medicines for the people of Thailand.  In particular
we would appreciate clarification of the present
government's stance on Compulsory Licensing, which was
used legally by the previous government to
significantly increase access to anti-retroviral
treatment for people living with HIV.

We consider Compulsory Licensing as an important and
effective legislative measure to ensure improve access
to treatment for a number of chronic and life
threatening diseases. It has been proven that the use
of Compulsory Licensing helps to create a balance by
limiting exclusive patent rights and upholding the
government's constitutional responsibility to promote
equality and protect public health.

It is also important to note that the National Health
Security Office's use of low cost generic
antiretroviral medicines imported under Compulsory
License has lead to significant budgetary savings.
These savings have allowed the National Health
Security Office to provide antiretroviral medicines
with fewer side effects and an improved monitoring
system to large numbers of HIV/AIDS patients. Moreover
these savings have also allow the National Health
Security Office to extend its benefit packages to
those with other chronic disease such as renal
failure.

Your Excellency, to address the challenge of improving
access to essential medicines we first need
'commitment' from the government. We are certainly
counting on this government to build this commitment
as well as to develop new strategies. While realizing
and understanding that we need to think of other
systematic approaches as part of a long term strategy
to increase equitability of access to medicines,
compulsory licensing should remain as part of this
strategy.

At this moment many patients with cancer are awaiting
the importation of affordable generic versions of the
three expensive patented anticancer medicines for
which the previous government recently issued
compulsory licenses. We would like to call on Your
Excellency to ensure these people and other like them
no longer suffer the catastrophic consequences of the
excessively high price of some life saving patent
protected medicines.

       Your Excellency, we are a cooperative network with
sincere attitudes, and are willing to share any
knowledge and experience with the Ministry of Public
Health in order to reach our ultimate goal of an
increased and equitable access to medicines.

Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of our
highest consideration.


Kannikar KIJTIWATCHAKUL (Kar)
Access to Essential Medicine Campaigner
MSF Belgium - Thailand Mission,
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