"Baptists and bootleggers" attack on Thailand alliance

The unlikely coalition of a military government that overthrew a democratically-elected government of Thailand in 2006 and non-governmental organizations concerned about access for poorer people to essential drugs has been condemned as "Baptists and bootleggers" by Philip Stevens of the International Policy Network, a UK-headquartered global development think-tank.

Mr Stevens was writing in the Medical Progress Today, an Internet-based magazine produced by the US think-tank the Manhattan Institute. In his article, the IPN's health program director claimed that the "consumerist" interests publicly-supported by NGOs are in fact in contrast with the self-serving attitude of the Thai government. In particular, the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, a state-owned drugmaker, was accused of exploiting the issue of access to drugs for poorer people in Thailand, to justify the seizure of intellectual property belonging to foreign drugmakers (Marketletters passim).

Mr Stevens argued that the GPO is motivated by more monetary considerations than altruism. He said: "behind all the talk of increasing access to medicines, the Thai government's true intention is to establish itself as a dominant regional manufacturer of generic drugs." He added that the track record of the GPO in terms of corruption and mismanagement were not hopeful for the future needs of Thai HIV/AIDS patients. In 2002, the Auditor General reported that $13.0 million had been stolen by the GPO from the government over the previous four years. Drugs were also sold to patients at mark ups of "up to 1,000%."