Public Health Ministry's hospitals stop giving plastic bags

BANGKOK, Oct 1 (TNA) -- All hospitals under the Ministry of Public Health will today stop providing patients with plastic bags to take home medication. Dr Vibhan Sungkahapong,, the director of the Central Chest Institute of Thailand said that today is the first day that all hospital under the Ministry of Public Health will absolutely not providing the plastic bags to the patients to take home their medication. This was part of the Public Health Ministry’s policy to improve its waste management, contribute to efforts to reduce global warming, reduce costs and encourage more public participation in environmental protection. Those who visit these hospitals from Oct 1, are advised to provide their own cloth bags to carry medicines they may be given. The hospitals have started the plastic bag bannned since June and the statistic from June up to November showed that plastic bag usage have been drastically reduced with more and more patients bringing along their own cloth bags. In all, nearly Bt50,000 in savings have been made for the hospitals. Patients who arrived to receive medicine at the Central Chest Institute of Thailand today were all visibly keen to take part in the campaign and brought along their own cloth bags. Most who were questioned said that they supported the campaign and all hospital staff had continuously remind the patients of the campaign beforehand. All were aware of the problem of the massive amount of plastic waste and the problems it was causing the environment in particular and the country as a whole. (TNA)