Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Regarding HIV testing kit
8 July 2020
The Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a second notification of the Ministry of Public Health regarding test kits related to HIV infection B.E. 2562 and a notification of the Ministry of Public Health regarding HIV self-test kits B.E. 2562, both of which have been effective from April 9, 2019. With these notifications, the ministry aimed to promote public access to HIV test kits so that infected patients are aware of the infection status from the early stage. This would lead to a timely subsequent confirmation diagnosis, appropriate treatment, and prevention of transmission of the disease to other people, thus reducing the country’s new HIV patients.
These notifications specified that the test kits should come with documents providing information that test kit users should know before and after knowing the test results, as well as information regarding how infected individuals can receive subsequent confirmation diagnosis and healthcare and how to prevent transmission of the disease to others. The documents also contain a demonstration of how to use the test kits, how to interpret the results, and how to seek additional medical advice using a QR code or related websites. A self-screening HIV test kit provides only a preliminary test result; therefore, if the test result is positive, the test kit user should receive a further confirmation diagnosis from public and private hospitals or private clinics. If infection is not detected, test kit users should still consider the risk of their infection and seek a confirmation diagnosis. Moreover, HIV-infected patients who have taken antiretroviral drugs should not use these test kits because these kits may give false-negative results.
These notifications were expected to increase the number of HIV-infected people who receive medical treatment because some HIV-infected individuals did not want to receive a test at hospitals or clinics because of the stigma associated with the disease. In addition, the new notifications would increase domestic demand for test kits and would, in turn, lead to further investment and an increase in sales of the testing kit producers.
References
FDA. (2019). “Notification from the Ministry of Public Health, Subject: Self-test kits related to self-screening for HIV infection in 2019”. Vol. Volume 136.
Bangkokbiznews. (2019). "FDA announces Self-screening Kit for HIV Infection.".
Thai PBS. (2019). "FDA unblock 'HIV test kit' so that it can be bought from the Drugstore by Yourself.".
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