OBJECTIVES: Khlong Luang District, Pathum Thani Province, Thailand, could be recognized as a national distribution center of several kinds of goods especially cosmetics and medicines. If the factories in this area did not pass the standardize for industrial, it would be impact to the other regions across Thailand. This study is to survey the public problems affecting people health in Khlong Luang District and to investigate the contexts those related to the burden and severity of the public problems.

METHODS: This study is a mixed method. The retrospective data from the hospital database was used to analyze the burden of the public problems. Focus group interview among the community leaders with an interactive multi-voting process were performed to gather the context relevant to the severity of the public problems. Health outcomes including incidence rate, length of stay (LOS), and cost of illness of inpatient admission affected by the adverse event of using illegal medicines sole by grocery stores.

RESULTS: The survey in 2019 reported 48.5% of grocery stores (11 out of 24) sole NSAIDs. The hospital database shows gastrointestinal (GI) bleed was the first leading cause of hospitalizations. The incidence rate of GI bleed, average LOS, and average cost of inpatient admission from the year 2020 to 2022 were 51.55 per 1000 population, 8 days per patient, and 538.47$USD, 80.80 per 1000 population, 4.1 days per patient, and 225.66$USD and 45.45 per 1000 population, 4.5 days per patient, and 464.55$USD, respectively. This finding was consistency with the results from the qualitative study that people in Khlong Luang District are most likely to buy medicines especially NSAIDs from grocery store instead of pharmacy store.

CONCLUSIONS: Linkage among stakeholders’ databases including community hospitals, community leaders, and private sectors is needed for implementation of the master plan for tackling those public problems.