Don’t put profit before safety by allowing foreign tourists to return to Thailand too soon, warns doctor

 

Image: Manager

 

A leading doctor at Chulalongkorn Hospital went on his personal Facebook page to suggest that opening Thailand up too early to medical tourists just to make a fast buck was not sensible.

 

This has been a proposal to get Thailand's economy running better.

 

Dr Thira Woratanarat said it was not worth it given the problems it could cause.

 

Dr Thira also commented on the upcoming opening of 30,000 schools on Thursday and the change in restrictions that will allow the opening of bars, pubs and soapy massage. 

 

These all represented perfect opportunities for the virus to make a resurgence due to close interactions of people.

 

He urged that the authorities use everything in their power to ensure that preventative measures are followed to the letter. 

 

This included making sure there was strict adherence to the track and trace app. 

 

But he doubted that medical tourism was worth the risk right now. 

 

Also he urged that people like businessmen, skilled labourers and returning expats with families be closely monitored and quarantined to prevent a renewed spread of coronavirus.

 

Source: Manager

 

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Profit before safety is basically the national religion. 

21 minutes ago, RandolphGB said:

Profit before safety is basically the national religion. 

Yes, definitely.

Here''s another example...

 

9 minutes ago, ravip said:

Yes, definitely.

Here''s another example...

 

Why do people compare Thailand, with no "alleged" internal cases for 33 days, with a country pretty well ravaged by Covid-19 ? It just doesn't make any sense at all.

Another fearful harp player who plays the apocalypse. The virus is there, but far from the end of the world. Instead of destructive hysteria, it is better to think about solutions. 

And the hysterics are mostly those who don't suffer economically, like this doctor.

 

The solution of the Philippines for the revival of tourism, I find a good solution. Not unnecessarily long quarantine times.

 

And if the countries or the airlines could still agree on a quick test before departure, as is currently practiced in Austria, it would be even better.

 

The task is to find a good balance between security and economy.

This doctor is probably too rich to realise that many people in Thailand are poor. Many have considered suicide because they don't have enough money to survive.

 

These people should be left with no money to know how it feels.

Open for inbound travel but WITH 14 day quarantine. 

1 minute ago, reallyaffiliated said:

Open for inbound travel but WITH 14 day quarantine. 

Thai people are too paranoid. The chances of them dying from road accidents is higher than the virus.

He has basically said nothing but just repeated parrot fashion what everybody is aware of. 

 

Completely agree with other posters, guys like this live in a bubble and get their income either way.

 

They probably have never been at the sharp end or on the bones of their ass 

Overseas visitors I understand the caution and currently given the limited carriers in operation I suspect another month will not adversely affect the economy to any great extent

 

However as the country must open up, the schools and bars are good starting point to evaluate the full domestic picture. Should there be no signs of major infections, then time to get things rolling and attention can be turned onto admitting overseas visitors and the necessary precautions

32 minutes ago, warcy said:

Thai people are too paranoid. The chances of them dying from road accidents is higher than the virus.

So, just opening up the country for all foreigners, without quarantine is advisable?

????

37 minutes ago, 473geo said:

Overseas visitors I understand the caution and currently given the limited carriers in operation I suspect another month will not adversely affect the economy to any great extent

 

However as the country must open up, the schools and bars are good starting point to evaluate the full domestic picture. Should there be no signs of major infections, then time to get things rolling and attention can be turned onto admitting overseas visitors and the necessary precautions

Yes.

 

You are right but at the moment they are like a child learning to swim.

 

They know there is going to be some unpleasant experiences before they master it, but if they don't take the plunge, when stormy waters hit the economy, they will be a fish out of water or a government out of its depth.

 

They cannot win every time. Either they accept some increase in cases or the economy suffers and stagnates.

 

They need to put it some regulations such as face masks in flight, social distancing where possible, temperature checks, personal hand washing and people being aware of surroundings and large groups.

 

You cannot isolate a nation forever and they won't be able to get all the previous preferential deals with the West as they have had for many years as emerging economies,  as the West has been harder hit than Asia,  and will not be able to subsidise goods and services like they have done in the past.

 

A balance has to be reached between economics and safety.

 

 

 

The dinosaurs at the helm are scared, because they are in the high risk group for Covid-19.

They sh*t their pants already.

Check once how many officials died in Iran. 

56 minutes ago, warcy said:

Thai people are too paranoid. The chances of them dying from road accidents is higher than the virus.

Sure , but road accidents are not infectious .

What the good doctor said is covid 19 groundhog day repetition.

 

Another one on the bandwagon for an ego - boost in the social media.

This reminds me of my former sister in law. She locks herself in her apartment for months now because she is so scared of the virus, although the situation is totally under control here. She has no real life anymore and time is flying. Life is too short to let fear rule your life.

 

Don't even think about a solution how to continue. Just lock the country forever in fear.

Just let everyone die of starvation or depression instead?

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Don’t put profit before safety by allowing foreign tourists to return to Thailand too soon, warns doctor

people in the queue for food and about to lose their home may disagree with that approach some what

A leading doctor at Chulalongkorn Hospital went on his personal Facebook page

 

could 'journalists' get any lazier? sitting at home trawling social media for 'stories'. pathetic.

Just keep tourists out and ruin the economy instead.

5 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

Why do people compare Thailand, with no "alleged" internal cases for 33 days, with a country pretty well ravaged by Covid-19 ? It just doesn't make any sense at all.

Are you sure that is true???

3 hours ago, The Farang said:

Are you sure that is true???

Does it matter ? Thailand isn't invulnerable to the virus . If there are more cases then stated or not does not make a lot of difference , since it surely can go a lot worse in very short span . 

That doesn't mean i agree with the doctor , but what he says is true also . They have got to find a midway between opening for tourism and health . How it can be done , idk , maybe test before going on flight + test when landed and test after 10d in country . But then you still have to find something to fix quarantine since people just won't come when there is ( daily test ? ) .

Would it be too hard to have the new normal of covid test prior to arrival or on arrival ? Add extra $200 to the ticket price. People get tested on either side, airlines back in business, countries back in business, pharma companies making billions and labs making a nice profit .

 

Beats the 14 day quarantine

5 minutes ago, BestB said:

Would it be too hard to have the new normal of covid test prior to arrival or on arrival ? Add extra $200 to the ticket price. People get tested on either side, airlines back in business, countries back in business, pharma companies making billions and labs making a nice profit .

 

Beats the 14 day quarantine

Sounds reasonable to me. I don't understand why the people in charge can't think of ways of minimizing the spread of the virus without completely killing the economy. That applies to many countries, not just Thailand. Maybe at some point they'll start thinking of better solutions before they destroy everything.

13 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

Why do people compare Thailand, with no "alleged" internal cases for 33 days, with a country pretty well ravaged by Covid-19 ? It just doesn't make any sense at all.

I was saying the same yesterday plus why is Trump continually bought into to threads which have absolutely nothing to do with him. I wish the yanks would just accept they've got another 4years of him

This doc is just another fashism of the wealthy elite.

I saw above the Philippines way, looks much smarter.

 

Hopefully, the tourism industry of Thailand will totally collaps.

There are more countries to spend the holiday and money.

And you know what?  There are you more welcome.

 

Thailand will now rely on chinese tourists. Hahahaha

The origin of the virus.

 

Does not need any further words.....

The thing is how long do you lock down for. No one knows really. It's alright for all these so called specialists saying we could have, maybe we might have, there will be another spike if you do this, if you do that. It's alright for them on their full salary living as normal. 

But what about the millions of people out of work queuing for handouts of food.

I don't think anyone is going to make profit this year 

Yes you have to be careful but it's got to open up sometime. Just keep the Chinese out and all will be okay

 

2 minutes ago, SuwadeeS said:

This doc is just another fashism of the wealthy elite.

I saw above the Philippines way, looks much smarter.

 

Hopefully, the tourism industry of Thailand will totally collaps.

There are more countries to spend the holiday and money.

And you know what?  There are you more welcome.

 

Thailand will now rely on chinese tourists. Hahahaha

The origin of the virus.

 

Does not need any further words.....

Yeah...let it collapse!

The 100thousands working in the tourism industry can get all the wll paying jobs at 7eleven!

Opening SCHOOLS in on July 3/4 ?????

please explain to me how in the world are they going to have 20 MAXIMUM students per class??? Any more than that is not safe.

the schools especially the government schools do NOT have the space or ability for 20 PER class. They now have 35/40 per class. Impossible 

The same w EP SCHOOLS HERE. No way 20 max per class need 2 times the teachers and 2 times the class rooms. Impossible and NO profit for EP Schools 

Thank you doctor, for your wise words and insights!

Now please go out and administer some free health services to the poor!

You dip....