Hear in Taiwan

I found this at an exhibition room that showcased Taiwanese goodies from decades ago.

I couldn’t make out what this thing was at first sight, so I proceeded to read the description on the bottom.

Turns out it’s a medication bag.

The description read that, back in the days, environmental hygiene was far from superb and people often suffered from various forms of illness. Plus, public transportation was not very prevalent at the time and it was difficult for people to travel long distance to see a doctor. So pharmaceutical companies came up with this brilliant plan where they would give bags of over-the-counter pain killers, antibiotics and other medications to households in remote villages or in the mountains. Then a medication courier would ride his (or her) bike to visit these households every month to check the content of the bags. He will charge the family for the medications used and refill it.

The pharmaceutical companies were well aware of the fact that many people at the time were illiterate, so they had printed not only the names of the medication on the packets, but also illustrations. That way, everybody could take these medications whether or not they could read. For example, a cough medication packet has a picture of person coughing; pain killer for toothaches has a picture of a person with his mouth wide open and hi finger pointing to his teeth.

I was kind of mesmerized. I never knew there were these little medication bags that just sat around chilling in people’s houses, waiting to alleviate people’s pain. Kudos to whoever came up with this idea!