WASHINGTON — A wide-ranging surveillance operation by the Food and Drug Administration against a group of its own scientists used an enemies list of sorts as it secretly captured thousands of e-mails that the disgruntled scientists sent privately to members of Congress, lawyers, labor officials, jou

The Centre is planning to create an assessment board to identify the latest and best medical technology for government hospitals on the basis of an independent cost-benefit analysis.In the absence of such guidelines, these decisions are often industry-driven, putting the hapless patient at the recei

(Reuters Health) – A new, small study suggests medicinal marijuana may impair users’ driving skills – but might be missed by typical sobriety tests.At doses used in AIDS, cancer and pain patients, people weaved side to side more and had a slower reaction time in the hours after using the drug, resea

The past few years have seen significant progress in the development of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) in China. The China National Health Development Research Center (CNHDRC), the national focal point for HTA in China, has stepped up efforts to roll out HTA activities in many ways in order to s

Pritaporn Kingkaew BPharm, MSc*, Yot Teerawattananon MD, PhD* * Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), Nonthaburi, Thailand While many of the principles that guide the economic evaluation of medical devices are somewhat similar to those that guide the evaluation of other

The government has rejected British Medical Association claims that the NHS is risking patients’ health by rationing drugs and operations.BMA head Dr Mark Porter told the Guardian that financial pressure on the NHS meant its “offer” had shrunk and it was no longer a comprehensive service.Fears patie

With HTA gaining ground as a tool for priority-setting globally, it comes as no surprise that, alongside many other questions on the development of the mechanism, countries are trying to find ways to adapt HTA to their particular healthcare system and context. Such was the case the HITAP team found

The Thailand Ministry of Public Health - U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Collaboration (TUC) in collaboration with partners in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, conducted a clinical study resulting in a new algorithm for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) detection. The newly proposed algorithm consists of three initial symptom screening cr

Cervical cancer is a major cause of health burden in Thailand. However, the composite of cost of treatment among cervical cancer patients has not been studied. The objective of this study is to estimate the life-time treatment costs and quality of life among different diagnostic staging of invasive cervical cancer in Thailand using the social viewp