Fah Thai Magazine Jan-Feb 2019

OVERTURES
ARTS & CULTURAL MATTERS
A Legacy to
Good Medicine
Noteworthy people and their
contributions aren’t known until
the stories are told. A new museum
gets ‘clinical’ and sheds some
light on Bangkok’s little known
medicinal history .
Words Sarita Urupongsa
Photos Dolnapa Ram-Indra
Tong Yong may have settled happily with
a local wife and their children in Siam,
but memories of his motherland in China
pulled at him. Once his second son, Chai
Chainuvati, was independent enough,
Tong Yong sent him to the Chinese side of
the family to study in Shanghai. As a young
man Chai saw his beloved brother pass
away from typhoid, an event that deeply
affected him and the decision to go to
medical school.
In 1932, Dr. Chai graduated with
a degree in western medicine from
Tongji German Medical School, or
Tongji University in present day
Shanghai, and returned to Bangkok. He
established Berlin Pharmacy, a general
clinic where, apart from services like
medical examinations and dispensing
prescriptions, patients can also purchase
medicines with Dr. Chai’s expert help.
The Charoen Krung District served as
the clinic’s location in Bangkok, then
known as a vibrant commercial area.
Now it’s only apt that Dr. Chai’s
eldest son, Dr. Termchai Chainuvati, is
making his father’s reputation known
with a museum dedicated to the
memories collected through the span of
a century. Preserved within its walls are
personal histories woven in with urban
stories for a unique learning venue
to benefit generations of people. As
one of the pioneers and private clinic
operator, Dr. Chai was truly admired for
his medical ethics and superb medical
diagnosis. His generosity also made
him popular, if patients can’t pay – the
doctor would treat them for free and
even provide taxi fares home.
At the Berlin Pharmaceutical
Museum, notable highlights include a
model of Dr. Chai’s treatment room filled
with medical equipment lined up in the
exact position from the old days, with a
dispensary room showing how people
got diagnosed, including the original hoist
used for sending up medicine compounds
from the ground floor to the third and
fourth floors. See an aesthetic display of
medicine bottles, antique dispensary tools,
and grinding and weighing machines of
actual equipment preserved from the old
tradition of making medicine.
From a humble, yet meritorious
clinic came a budding business in
pharmaceuticals. The reason behind this
transformation came from Dr. Chai’s
own commitment to continuing his
passion to help the sick and his wish
to safeguard his family’s future. Berlin
Pharmaceutical Limited Partnership
was established in 1954, with the
second floor used for administrative
purposes and the third and the fourth
floors converted into production and
storage areas. Despite continuing
losses in the beginning, Dr. Chai was
undeterred; he believed that one
day quality medicine at reasonable
prices would become possible. Berlin
Pharmacy has stood through the times
and has now expanded into Berlin
Pharmaceutical Limited Partnership,
with a manufacturing plant located on
Romklao Road.
To visit Berlin Pharmaceutical
Museum Bangkok, there is an entry
fee of 40 Baht. 359 Charoen Krung Road,
Sua Pa Intersection. Opens Wednesday
to Monday 9am-5pm, facebook.com/
BerlinPharmaceuticalMuseumBangkok
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