Thailand's 1 million health volunteers hailed as coronavirus heroes

By Jiraporn Kuhakan and Panu Wongcha-um

 

Village health volunteer Surin Makradee, 77, wears a face mask and shield before visiting houses to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ang Thong province, Thailand, May 27, 2020. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

SALADANG, Thailand (Reuters) - Nearly every day, 77-year-old Surin Makradee goes door-to-door in her village in Thailand, visiting every home to check people's temperatures in a routine repeated in communities across the country during the coronavirus pandemic.

 

"I consider people in the village my family. If I don't educate them, they will not understand the risk of getting infected," Surin said in her village of Saladang in Ang Thong province, about 90 km (55 miles) north of Bangkok.

 

She is a member of the Village Health Volunteers, a long-overlooked network of more than 1 million community workers dating back to a Cold War-era hearts-and-minds programme.

 

The volunteers have been praised by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "unsung heroes" in Thailand’s relatively successful efforts to fight the novel coronavirus.

 

Thailand was the first country outside China to detect a case of the coronavirus, in January, but it has reported only about 3,000 cases and 58 deaths since then.

 

"Thailand’s village health volunteers are unsung heroes working to support the prevention, detection and reporting of COVID-19," said Daniel Kertesz, WHO representative for Thailand, referring to the disease caused by the coronavirus.

 

Apart from the temperature checks, the front-line health volunteers help the government collect daily health information and watch for flare-ups in infections.

 

Surin, who has been a volunteer for 38 years and does her rounds by motorcycle, said she is also responsible for monitoring people who have returned from other provinces and need to be in quarantine for 14 days.

 

"I have to educate those in quarantine to eat and live separately from their family members," she said.

 

COLD WAR HOLDOVER

Created in 1977, the Village Health Volunteers were set up as part of government efforts to help rural communities at a time when communists insurgents roamed through many parts of the country.

 

With basic health training, the volunteers help provide rudimentary care and initial diagnoses in areas that are often a long way from a clinic or hospital.

 

"They were gatekeepers for people in the community to get to medical treatment, and this was important considering the limited resources of our health system," said Chatichai Muksong, a historian at Srinakharinwirot University.

 

He said volunteers helped create greater participation in the health systems in subsequent decades and won praise during previous epidemics like the H5N1 bird flu in the mid-2000s.

 

Their role, however, had become less prominent over the past 10 years - at least until the coronavirus emerged.

 

One person under quarantine in Surin’s village, Ticomporn Kingpet, 60, who recently returned home from the resort island of Phuket, said he was impressed with the volunteers' work.

 

"They're like a group of small ants working together. They are giving very good advice to the people," he said.

 

(Writing by Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Kay Johnson, Robert Birsel)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-04

 

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Didn't even know these people existed. Well done and good luck to all of them, but how about more official government recognition rather than some "WHO" lackey bringing it to everyone's attention. Wonder if Anutin and his mates even know about them. 

Edited June 4, 20206 yr by bangkokfrog

Doing  a great job. It's a shame they have to volunteer. The government should be paying them for the essential role that they are playing and easing their hardship.

Good job.

 

Honest people who like to help as volunteers, very noble job. Many thais could learn a lot of these heroes.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Village health volunteer Surin Makradee, 77, wears a face mask and shield before visiting houses to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ang Thong province, Thailand, May 27, 2020

maybe he should stay home, to stop the spread, specially his age ...

 

anyway, government destroyed the economy with their head in the sand... fake pandemic, old & sick people die every day

 

58 first wave deaths... that was 1/10 per day in my home country, PER DAY

Edited June 4, 20206 yr by Bender Rodriguez

3,000 cases in 65,000,000 people and still calling it a Pandemic ? that's 1 in every 20,000 ?

60 people died .... that's 1 in every 1,000,000 ??? .... where is the Pandemic ?

 

The Pandemic is exclusively in the media and people's minds ... well done Government to

extend your power and make Millions of people poor and lose their businesses !

 

Karma will have it's go on all the people who did this !!! This is a Crime against humanity, nothing else !

I'd never heard of them either, and the GF has never mentioned them, though being a peasant from "oop norf" she must have had contact with them. They definitely sound like the unsung heroes of the current situation, it would be nice to hear Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin, the spokesperson of the CCSA, giving them some praise for their efforts. I'd also like Prayut to give them all a one-off gift of, say, 5,000 Baht each, but I won't hold my breath on that one.

Noble cause, but are they still using the cheapo infra temp meters with plus minus 0.3 degree accuracy, if used correctly? 

Isn't this a violation to people's right to privacy? What happens if you refuse to allow them to come inside your home?

 

How do they know when to knock on your door? Some people leave home very early and work all day, only coming home pretty late in the evening.

 

Are they also heading into forests to check the temperatures of forest dwellers?
 

Lots of unanswered questions.

It's not only grannies at the village health volunteers.

Daughter and one neighbor are members.

So for me this is regular experience.

At the village health center there are serial examinations/blood sugar, vaccinations for children etc.

For these occasions qualified medical personnel comes for a visit.

The volunteers give a helping hand, administration stuff, weighing/measuring toddlers and adults (maintaining sheets), taking blood pressure etc.

And the elderly and sick head of the volunteers has the loudest speaker around and loves to announce at sunrise Fortunately not too often anymore.

The badge of the "or-sŏr-mor":

Edited June 4, 20206 yr by KhunBENQ

One million!  How many COVID cases were reported in Thailand?

They came to my house to check me during quarantine, all these volunteers did a very good job ????... and a very good business for the Government, to get 1 million people working for free.

Well done. Let's hope that moron Anutin doesn't disparage them in public like he did with the hospital staff who caught coronavirus.

It’s still a mystery how Thailand escaped the pandemic. Compared to neighboring countries such as Malaysia , Singapore, Hong Kong etc , a 60 death count and 3000 infected is extremely low. Especially as the authorities did nothing to stop a pandemic happening, keeping the borders with China open at the most dangerous time. I remember panicking when I saw how many Chinese tourists there were in Pattaya and Bangkok up till late February. That’s when I went home to France. 
Amazing  Thailand . 

Singapore and Hong Kong are not neighboring countries.

And a mystery how neighboring countries Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia had a cumulative less cases then Thailand.

Maybe a big conspiracy between these countries you think?..

25 minutes ago, geisha said:

It’s still a mystery how Thailand escaped the pandemic. Compared to neighboring countries such as Malaysia , Singapore, Hong Kong etc , a 60 death count and 3000 infected is extremely low. Especially as the authorities did nothing to stop a pandemic happening, keeping the borders with China open at the most dangerous time. I remember panicking when I saw how many Chinese tourists there were in Pattaya and Bangkok up till late February. That’s when I went home to France. 
Amazing  Thailand . 

So, do to your admitted fear and panic you went home to France and its 150,000 cases and 30,000 deaths? 

 

Seems like such a poor choice and yes, you are right.. Amazing Thailand.

 

Edited June 4, 20206 yr by bkk6060

1 hour ago, bkk6060 said:

And a mystery how neighboring countries Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia had a cumulative less cases then Thailand.

Maybe a big conspiracy between these countries you think?..

This might interest you:

 

This is the "hit ratio". There are a few factors that I can think of influencing it:

 

1. There's massive, untargeted testing being done with low number of infections -> in the blue

2. There's targetted testing being done with high number of infections -> in the red

3. There's unknown amount of testing being done, but the positives don't result in confirmations (like needing two reference lab results) -> in the blue

 

Now, look west of Myanmar. That must be the happyhappy line where the Kingdom of Magic begins, suddenly it goes from red to blue. To the east there's "no data". 

they should get more money...

4 hours ago, drbeach said:

Isn't this a violation to people's right to privacy? What happens if you refuse to allow them to come inside your home?

 

How do they know when to knock on your door? Some people leave home very early and work all day, only coming home pretty late in the evening.

 

Are they also heading into forests to check the temperatures of forest dwellers?
 

Lots of unanswered questions.

When did a Thai ever knock on a door, I've never know it.

2 hours ago, Tarteso said:

to get 1 million people working for free

They get a small compensation.

Daughter gets 1000 Baht/month.

The effort (hours/days per month) varies much.

Don't worry about Anutin and his cronies, they're doing just fine  (May 20th)...... Plenty of masks and social distancing....... Not ......

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

They get a small compensation.

Daughter gets 1000 Baht/month.

The effort (hours/days per month) varies much.

Right... for petrol.

19 hours ago, bangkokfrog said:

Didn't even know these people existed. Well done and good luck to all of them, but how about more official government recognition rather than some "WHO" lackey bringing it to everyone's attention. Wonder if Anutin and his mates even know about them.

They exist because the normal health care system doesn't reach these parts and is non-existent to many.

Yes they are an important link, but if you think about it carefully it's a link that fills an otherwise huge gap in health care to out-of city dwellers.

My wife has been one for the last few years as it gives her a sense of purpose.

Her pre virus work was normally a couple of days a month working in the local Tambon clinic in addition to her village duties, like checking houses for mosquitoes to help prevent dengue etc.

17 hours ago, drbeach said:

Isn't this a violation to people's right to privacy? What happens if you refuse to allow them to come inside your home?

 

How do they know when to knock on your door? Some people leave home very early and work all day, only coming home pretty late in the evening.

 

Are they also heading into forests to check the temperatures of forest dwellers?
 

Lots of unanswered questions.

Your temperature seems to be a little too high...

14 hours ago, DrTuner said:

This might interest you:

 

This is the "hit ratio". There are a few factors that I can think of influencing it:

 

1. There's massive, untargeted testing being done with low number of infections -> in the blue

2. There's targetted testing being done with high number of infections -> in the red

3. There's unknown amount of testing being done, but the positives don't result in confirmations (like needing two reference lab results) -> in the blue

 

Now, look west of Myanmar. That must be the happyhappy line where the Kingdom of Magic begins, suddenly it goes from red to blue. To the east there's "no data". 

 

As, no one is sick.

Ambulances are not rushing around the streets. 

The hospitals are not full of patients.

So, you must believe there are millions of positive people untested in Thailand but I guess they are all asymptomatic?  So lucky for them and their families.   Not giving it to their friends, kids, parents or grandparents.

 

I would rather be in touch with reality which is basically no cases, not guessing about testing...

But, live in fear it is all false stick to your map and believe what you want.

 

15 hours ago, Surasak said:

When did a Thai ever knock on a door, I've never know it.

Well they don't seem to be doing it in Bangkok and perhaps they are only targeting poor rural neighborhoods as I don't think the elite would take too kindly to having their privacy invaded or being told what to do.

 

One would also expect there to be more news coverage given to this; all I had heard was from Richard Burrow, who back in April said that Phuket officials would be temperature checking EVERY resident in the entire province between Apr 13-26. A commentator on his FB page from Krabi said that they were checking temperatures there too and also nationwide. I responded, how can they do that, it's not been on the news and the resources required would be insane.

2 hours ago, 0815 said:

Your temperature seems to be a little too high...

I think yours is. You DO realize that we all have a right to safety and privacy in our own homes? Or do you consent to me coming to your home in the middle of the night, say around 3.30am to stick a temperature gun in your face?

Definitely she can run for the next health minister of Thailand and replace the Mr. Flip Flop.

On 6/4/2020 at 10:26 AM, bangkokfrog said:

Didn't even know these people existed. Well done and good luck to all of them, but how about more official government recognition rather than some "WHO" lackey bringing it to everyone's attention. Wonder if Anutin and his mates even know about them. 

They know do not kid yourself, these people are the reason the number of malaria cases are down in Thailand. They investigate houses in the village checking for standing water and then informing the house holder what to do. they hand out the sand that helps kill the larva. No these people have been doing a good job a long time.

17 hours ago, DrTuner said:

This might interest you:

 

This is the "hit ratio". There are a few factors that I can think of influencing it:

 

1. There's massive, untargeted testing being done with low number of infections -> in the blue

2. There's targetted testing being done with high number of infections -> in the red

3. There's unknown amount of testing being done, but the positives don't result in confirmations (like needing two reference lab results) -> in the blue

 

Now, look west of Myanmar. That must be the happyhappy line where the Kingdom of Magic begins, suddenly it goes from red to blue. To the east there's "no data". 

The Vietnamese hit if quicker closing schools and other transfer areas, they also have a similar operation but they have a lot more people participating. Cannot remember but read a very good article why they had low infection rate, responding early was the main reason