Methuselah

As a Brit feeling the same frustrations as others on this forum,I thought about returning to the UK for my vaccination.

However at the moment the delta variant is infecting a large number of people in the UK,but most have already been vaccinated.Thus one is entering a country of asymptomatic,infected people,and after 19th July all restrictions on movement and mask wearing will be removed.

The first high risk environment will be long queues at the Heathrow end of the trip,then travel to one's destination by public transport.

For the moment living in one's relative isolation bubble may be the safer option,and await with increasing impatience for a vaccine to become available.

Advice from medical friends in the UK about the Thailand situation was"If it is heading towards the situation in India,get out of Thailand as quickly as possible"

The worldwide spread of covid 19 mandates that to limit the spread of the disease in the short term there is no alternative to lockdown now.The concern is to work out exactly what "short term " actually means.

The Spanish flu lasted three years with horrendous mortality,and it would not require much imagination to extrapolate that experience to covid 19.Nowadays medical advances will hopefully produce a reliable vaccine within  one more year,and the recent Chicago results of treatment with remdesivir are promising.So we are almost certainly in a better position than 1918 -1920.

Any easing of lockdown restrictions will inevitably lead to further waves of infection.

So what is the solution?

I think every contributor will realise that,unless a mutation to a more benign form of covid occurs,there really is no solution,and governments will be forced to take massive risks by either lifting restrictions or continuing with lockdowns.

Some authoritarian governments will be able to manipulate statistics to validate the course of action they embarked upon.In poorer 3rd World countries lockdowns will have to be lifted at an earlier stage in order to prevent starvation,others will try to ease lockdowns to prevent economic collapse.

I think Thailand,although acting late,has got it right for now,but there will be no winner in it's future moves.

No matter what the Thai government decides I would encourage everybody to continue with their own personal lockdown if possible.

Although logic suggests that these Thai returnees contracted the virus in Indonesia,there remains a possibility that they could have been infected in Thailand before they entered Indonesia.

An interesting experiment would have been to test all Thais entering Indonesia,which would then give us a more realistic impression of actual infections in Thailand.

As private hospitals discover that the elderly expatriate cash cow is being forced to buy useless health insurance policies,one would hope that they have sufficient clout to pressurise the Health Ministry to rethink.

International Health Insurance policies have been a wonderful source of income for those parasitic institutions,and their loss of income and probably increased  number of unpaid bills will hurt.

We live in hope.

Why,if Thai hospitals are happy to accept overseas health insurance,does the Thai government insist on a Thai policy?

As most of those Thai health insurance policies are less than useful,I suspect that hospital management and owners will be amongst the first to complain to the Thai Government.

That this governmental edict had the potential to be unfair has been apparent for some months.Presumably the Insurance companies had been amongst the consulted advisors.

One had hoped that some sense might have been injected prior to its implementation but this has not been the case.

There are some possible lobby groups that might suffer secondary to its implementation.

The construction industry would surely suffer as retirees no longer list Thailand as a destination.

Ironically,the very industry that the edict planned to protect might also be one of the first to suffer--the health and hospital industry,particularly in holiday/retirement destinations.

The entire project needs to be rethought, but I fear this would slap egg in the face of the persons responsible for this unjust plan.

Panorama,or at least Johnathan Head could have a field day exposing the motives behind this policy.

Having spent sometime considering the motives behind the imposition of mandatory Thai company health insurances and subsequent denial of entry into Thailand without such insurance,I have applied logic to this imposition.

Only Thai insurances will be fully understood by Immigration officers,thus avoiding excessive delays at the airport immigration desks.

We should be grateful for this silver lining on an otherwise massive cloud.

Anybody like to volunteer as a "Lollipop man"?I suspect the species has become extinct in Thailand.

Hanuman statue to Soi Chaiyapreuk is about 4 and a half kilometres.I wonder,as Jomtien second road is a dual carriageway,which side of the carriageway will people drive on.

I anticipate some teething problems.

For the family and friends of the lady in question,this is an absolutely tragic event which should not have occurred.My condolences to the family.

Despite some TV contributors suspicions that general anaesthesia has an element of associated risk,I can assure them that modern day anaesthesia is actually a very safe procedure in the right hands with the correct equipment.

To speculate on the events leading up to the death of the patient will only precipitate more grief amongst the relatives of the patient.I sincerely hope that the authorities overseeing this tragedy find the cause of death,and take the appropriate action against the clinic and medical practitioners involved.In England there would be a high profile coroner's inquest,with subsequent litigation for several million pounds.

Although negligence and incompetence come high on the list of possible causes of death,we shall just have to hope that the truth is revealed as quickly as possible,although I shall not hold my breath.

Despite the OP's concerns about his Falang buddy's lifestyle,it would seem that his buddy has actually overcome boredom by going out drinking.

Each to their own.

I suspect that when such large amounts of cash are involved that the victim is identified as a target,and the pickpockets are informed of his whereabouts and the crime planned.

Similar thing happened to a friend{34000 baht] on a baht bus.He had been set up,probably by restaurant staff.A well planned operation,with a gang member providing diversionary tactics on the baht bus,and a motorcycle right behind the baht bus to pick up the escaping pickpocket.

The informant presumably gets a cut of the takings,but is never arrested.

The reference to ducks ignited a train of thought which has sparked some duck related suggestions.

"The Duck and Drake"

'The Pond"

and the piece de resistance "The Ponderosa"

My father aged 95 had a hip replacement at the Ram hospital.The surgeon Dr Paiboon was excellent and had excellent communication skils as well as practical skills.However he admitted before surgery that post operative rehabilitation at Chiang Mai Ram was not a strong point.This proved to be the case,and I was appalled at the extremely poor attitude to rehabilitation.

I paid a visit to Suan Dok hospital to discuss rehabilitation with the chief occupational therapist,and she confirmed the lack of emphasis on rehabilitation at Ram Hospital.

In the end I opted to remove my father from the Ram and employ at home a private nurse and physiotherapist from the McCormack to oversee my father's recovery.

The overall cost at Ram was about 250000 baht,but I did not regret my decision to remove my father from the Ram.

Should someone recommend a good orthopaedic surgeon at Sriphat medical centre {wing of Suan Dok},I would opt for surgery there.

Good luck.

Out of interest,without wishing to challenge ministerial statements,how does one reserve power?

As you will see in the sections on nicotinic and muscarinic effects of excessive cholinergic effects,cardiac effects are part and parcel of organophosphate poisoning.The bonding of organophosphates with acetylcholinesterase is particularly strong and durable,and the effect of excessive acetylcholne on heart muscle would result in severe cardiac failure,causing cardiac dilatation,as well as severe pulmonary oedema.

Apart from intensive life support,pralidoxime is the most common treatment.However one has to suspect and confirm the diagnosis before instituting treatment.

Speculation on the cause of this tragedy has so far failed to consider the fact that the girls did not,or were unable to seek help.As some form of toxin is very high on the list of suspects,then one must consider a poison that causes motor paralysis as well as severe gastrointestinal ,cardiac and respiratory symptoms.

It would therefore be premature to rule out organophosphate poisoning{used in insecticides},which in acute poisoning would provide a possible explanation.

Also acute,severe poisoning by some varieties of mushroom would have very similar effects.

In both instances a low blood cholinesterase level would help verify the cause--unlikely to have been performed,and definitely never mentioned in the Downtown Inn investigations.

From a diagnostic point of view it is a tragedy that local investigators have virtually thrown in the towel in seeking an explanation.

Can now report very favourably on the repair by Mr.Thip.The problem was a fault in a chip on the output from the D/A converter.Thip replaced the chip,from Texas instruments,and the sound is now superior to the sound when I first purchased the system.Not cheap.

Mr. Thip is very much an audiophile expert,and at present is based at Siam Discovery centre,Rooms 322-323.His company is called Music for life co. ltd and his phone no 0817521600.

He will be moving into new premises down sukhumvit in a few months,but has given permission to give his details should anyone require expert audiophile advice or repair.

Enthusiastically recommended.

An update on the Burmester problem.I e-mailed the Burmester company in Germany relating the difficulties with the right output.Four days later I received an e-mail from a Mr Thip,whom Burmester had contacted.He has had considerable experience with Burmester products,and has basically been unbelievably helpful.He has a company called Music for Life,and even offered to come down to Pattaya to pick up the transport and DA converter.He reckons,from his experience that the problem lies in the converter,and warned that it was a pretty complex piece of equipment,not to be entrusted to a repair novice.

Interestingly he spoke fluent English with a Singoporean accent.The system is now in his hands,and should spare parts be required he will be able to obtain them from Burmester.

Hopefully I shall be able to report a happy outcome to the scenario,and if all goes well,I shall ask his permission to give his contact Tel no to this forum

Unfortunately after 10 years of use I am now experiencing some muting from one output of my combination Burmester 969 transport and 970 DA converter.All purchased in Hong Kong.

Would appreciate advice on a reliable repair centre in Bangkok.

Living beside the river I am beginning to get a bit alarmed by the rate of rise.My estimate is that it has risen three to four feet in the past 48hrs.

It would be unkind of me to blame all Thai driving eccentricities on the French;however I do remember driving in France many years ago and the rule of the road was priorite a droit.{priority to cars coming from side roads to the right}.Although road regulations in Thailand are a bit obscure,could the vehicle coming from a side road into a mainstream of traffic actually possess some rights?

In seeking parallels to Yingluck's election success,I am surprised that the name"Arnold Schwarzenegger" has not been introduced to the discussion.Similar to Yingluck he had never held public office until elected governor of California.

Lack of experience is no barrier to electoral success.We have to live with the fact that in a democracy it is charisma that attracts the majority of voters.