Paediatrician on Koh Samui accused of giving expired antibiotics to one-year-old child

A paediatrician on Koh Samui island has been accused of giving wrong and expired medicine to a one year old child. The child’s mom, who wishes to remain anonymous, says her baby had a common cold with minor symptoms. She says the doctor prescribed three bottles of medicine with one being the antibiotic doxycycline. The mother questioned why the doctor would give antibiotics for a common cold, but the doctor insisted it the medicine was appropriate.

After arriving home, the mother had a gut feeling that something was not right. She gave her baby one dosage of the medicine and then saw that it had expired by seven months. The label on the medicine says that it had expired on April 19, 2022. According to GoodRx, those medicines belonging to the tetracycline class, such as doxycycline, have been shown to cause Fanconi syndrome in some people. This is a rare form of kidney damage that prevents electrolytes from being absorbed by the body. For this reason, you should never take expired tetracycline. The mother was shocked to find that the doctors prescribed the out-of-date medicine after researching the effects of taking expired doxycycline.

The doctor allegedly works in the Bophut town centre area of Koh Samui in a private hospital on the island and also allegedly recently opened his own clinic. The worried mum posted on social media to alert other parents of the dangers of receiving expired medicine, with many commenting that they were shocked to hear of the incident. The doctor’s identity has not been revealed due to defamation laws in Thailand.