Mahidol University, in cooperation with Thailand Post, has started the service as a way to help hospitals in remote areas without their own laboratories diagnose patients, said Dr Prasit Watanapa, dean of Mahidol University's Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital.
Advanced laboratories are critical for diagnosis and patient care, but are few and far between in community clinics, he said. Under the scheme, small unequipped hospitals registered for the service can send samples by post and Siriraj will carry out the required lab tests and then return them to the hospitals.
The Siriraj Laboratory Centre will also ensure the quality of the results is not affected by postal handling, said Pattarachai Kiratisin, chairman of the Department of Microbiology. "Our accredited testing lab is well equipped with international standard quality control systems," he said.
More than 1,300 post offices are on standby to support the service, charging 50 baht to 100 baht for samples under 500 grammes, said Thailand Post's Suchada Phuttaraksa.
The lab service, which will take one to two days, is restricted to samples which can be kept at room temperature. At the moment patients in remote areas are typically referred to the nearest provincial hospital. Hospitals can track samples via the Track & Trace service at www.thailandpost.co.th or by the 1545 call centre service.