jonclark

In all seriuosness it a very mixed message being sent out. We must have social distancing - at my local 7-11 they have kindly put sticky plastic in on the floor to remind people of this safe distance. The slight fly in the ointment is that he 7-11 sits dead center in the middle of a busy fresh markets where people jostle and bump into each other as they go from stall to stall. I imagine a similar scence is played out in the hundreds of fresh markets all over Bangkok - But what help is social distancing in a 7-11 (or similar)if you need to push past a dozen people to get into it? Very mixed messages. 

The government has let down both the tourists and the immigration staff and their families. A huge loss of face. Someone needs to give prayut a massive kick in the stones and remind him that it is covid 19 that is the threat to national security.. Not foreigners. Take a long hard look at yourself Mr. PM and consider how you would feel if Thais were treated in this manner by a foreign government in the current situation. Massive loss of face. 

11 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

I would not call WHO independent, they seem to have gone along with anything the CCP has said

I am with you on this, either China has a health care system far better than previously throught and as a result was able to save many lives (and I hope this is the case) or someone, somewhere in CCP is lying through their teeth. My heart says one thing and my head another. I find it odd that as the Chinese health care system seems to have been so good as saving lives, why are the Chinese not out their sharing their knowledge and expertise in this area with the rest of the world? 

18 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

I wonder what the special service is??? I am guessing it has something to do with size as it costs less in Thai than it does in English apparently. 

9 minutes ago, Happy Grumpy said:

The treatment costs 30 baht. 

If you are Thai, then you are assigned, or register at a single hospital where you can get treated under the 30 baht scheme. That hospital is usually closest to where you are registered on your home papers / Tabien Baan. If you move to a new province then you must do a little paper chase to move hospitals, otherwise you stay at your original hospital. 

In this instance if he went to a government hospital that was not his assigned hospital they would carry out initial life saving treatment for 30 baht but then be referred back to his assigned hospital to continue treatment under the 30 baht scheme. My guess is (and it is a guess) most government hospitals would not view a co-vid19 test as life saving treatment if the patient was assigned a hospital in a different province. 

So whilst the 'universal' health care system term is correct, universal in this instance means all people are covered, not all people are covered by all hospitals. All people will be covered if they go to their assigned hospital under 30 baht scheme. Patients can still go to any government hospitals but payment may be required. 

Life saving treatment - i.e. in a road accident - is the obvious exception.

Some specialist hospitals, such Prasat Center for Neurology - as national clinical referral center - continue to offer 30 baht scheme to all Thai people once they are referred to them even if from a different province. 

Given the updated requirements for retirement visas - The irony of the situation was not lost on me. Especially the implementation of unclear rules by overzealous officials and jobsworths. 

I hope that they all get back safely.

Does anyone know how having a VPN on your smartphone will impact this app? 

This measure is not some paranoid, xenophobic exercise. This is a sensible precaution as one of many strategies to help the stop or slow the spread. Peoples help is required and part of that relies on a certain degree of honest disclosure. The principle of self-isolation and quarantine relies on that disclosure; as does advising immigration where you have been prior to entering the country. 

The alternative of turning a blind eye to where people have come from prior to entering Thailand leads to a potentially a far worse situation. There will be people that cheat and lie - that is to be expected. But most will disclose their prior travels easily as they want to remain safe.  

I wonder how one goes about getting a health certificate in Iran or China. I ask as I know in the UK is it probably quite difficult as going to a GP and having the tests done would be quite time-consuming - simply getting the appointments would take weeks. 

Can Thai Immigration officials read Iranian thats' the next point as Iranian doctor's probably issues Helath certs in Iranian

Get the bloody army to make em. I mean 50% of the conscripts probably went to a vocational college. Might mean the generals need to do their own laundry for a couple of weeks. But you know? 'sacrifice for the country' as the good PM says. 

This is fast becoming a perfect storm which will no doubt bring increased hardship to the majority. On one hand the trade war and surging baht has impacted the industrial output of Thailand, the drought has hit rice production, which was already under pressure from cheaper rice prices and arguably better quality rice  from Vietnam.

Now tourism has taken a huge hit and the government through design or incompetence is struggling to find a way through.

My own view is covid 19 are probably much higher than official results as people may not be going to hospital as a positive would result in days of work which they may not be ble to afford. And simply hospitals not testing for Ccovid 19 as part of standard screening. European countries screen of covid 19 as part of standard screen process which is why in part they have such high numbers. 

Once tourist return home from Thailand with Covid 19 I think heads will start to roll in government and add fuel to political discontent. 

We live in interesting times. 

3 hours ago, malibukid said:

drunk Thai's and dumb farangs.  sounds like a great party

Or dumb Thais and drunk farangs

On 2/28/2020 at 12:21 PM, brain150 said:

Madness

He wants to stop students gathering to protest as it might spread disease. Did he engage his brain. These people gather everyday when they all turn up for school or university. 

Is the Internal Security Act about to be used to stop students going to school... ???? Or does Covid19 not spread if it under stands the the vectors are gathering for learning..Not protesting... If vice versa however, Covid19 goes mental and becomes highly contagious. 

22 hours ago, Medicine Man said:

It should be treated as crime of mass poisoning of the local population with an appropriate sentence. 

You are of course assuming that he is guilty. Being found with matches and mosquito coils is not a crime and other than being very weak (at best) circumstantial evidence he is innocent until the police or courts prove him to be otherwise. Which i would respectfully suggest needs a hell of a lot more evidence than what they have posted here. 

Maybe painting the entire ugly ass grey wall would the biggest improvement of all.  

1 hour ago, balo said:

It always amazes me why anyone would destroy their own skin by having a tattoo. 
No I am not a fan and I find "clean skin" to be more beautiful. Still young people must have one , like some sort of fashion statement.   

Tattoos in Thailand are part of the cultural and religious heritage of the country. Many of the tattoo here are religious inscriptions thought to bring good luck and protection. So it shouldn't be too surprising that more regular tattoo have become part of fashion here. 

I personally think well done tattoos that have some thought behind them look good. However like yourself I also think that there are a lot of tattoos that look awful. But each to his own. 

He is spot on. The army receives a huge amount of taxpayers money. If the army turns even 1 Baht of profit that should all be given back to the treasury and taxpayer. If the army can turn a sizable profit from its business dealings, then let it fund itself and cut the cord with the taxpayer. 

I suspect there are many rural hospital that would be very grateful for a slice of the army's budget in updating their facilities and medical equipment.