Table 1 . This should lead to a decreasing number of advanced cases. Thus, Pap smears are not available to the majority of the population living in district or remote areas. Importantly, these areas consitute two-thirds of the country's population. The Thailand MOPH established a policy of early cancer detection in 1989 by setting up Pap smear centers in various parts of Thailand.
Quality control is done periodically by trained medical cytopathologists.
Table 2 . In Chulalongkorn Hospital, a tertiary health center, Pap smears have been done for more than 30 years. Table 3 summarizes the pap smear statistics for a five year period. As noted, smears taken at the out-patient clinic yielded proportionately more suspicious and positive cases than did the FP clinics. Table 3 .