A pharmacist at a Hat Yai pharmacy has shared an account that has moved tens of thousands of people online, describing the moment a woman in her fifties walked in asking to buy painkillers and then lifted her shirt to show what appeared to be a large malignant tumour on her left breast, larger than the pharmacist’s palm.
The woman, described as Malaysian, had been working in Hat Yai selling snacks. She told the pharmacist she had been told at every public hospital that she had no entitlement to subsidised care, meaning she would have to pay the full cost of treatment herself. The cost was beyond what she could afford.
She said she wanted to return to Malaysia but had no money to travel back.
The pharmacist, writing on the Facebook page of Saengthong Hatyai Pharmacy on 18 June, said the experience was one of the most affecting of her career.
She said she had seen tumours before during clinical rounds at Ramathibodi Hospital, but only on patients who already had access to care. Seeing this woman, she wrote, was different.
The pharmacist gave the woman medication at no charge and pressed money into her hands as she was leaving, in the hope she could have enough to eat so she will not have to work everyday.
The pharmacy posted CCTV footage in the comments to confirm the woman had come in to buy painkillers and had not asked for money.
“How lucky are we to have a public health insurance system,” the pharmacist wrote. “There are many people who cannot access it and have to suffer like this.”
She also noted that other pharmacist friends in Hat Yai had since contacted her saying they had seen the same woman at their shops, suggesting the pharmacy visit may have been one of the woman’s last options.
The post has been widely shared, with many readers calling for better clarity around healthcare access for long-term undocumented migrants and others calling for Hat Yai residents to buy from the woman if they see her selling snacks.
The story Malaysian woman with large tumour turned away from Thai hospital due to lack of ID as seen on Thaiger News.
