Buddhist monk Phrompong Kaino puts on personal protective equipment (PPE) to perform coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing in a community near his temple in Bangkok, Thailand August 4, 2021. Picture taken August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Monk Phrompong Kaino, 33, works around the clock providing free COVID-19 swab tests for vulnerable people in high-risk Bangkok communities, part of a project by his temple that has reached more than 2,000 people in just over a month.

 

He is one of thousands of ordinary people who have pitched in to try to help Thailand get out of its worst coronavirus crisis to date, which has strained hospitals and health services in the capital Bangkok.

 

One in five of those tested by the project Kaino's temple runs were positive for COVID-19 and were offered care at the temple in community isolation, or found hospital beds.

 

"Medical teams cannot meet the demand," Phrompong said.

 

"No matter if they are Buddhist, Christian or Muslim communities, we are all human beings and citizens who deserve to get treated fairly and immediately."

 

Thailand is on course to pass the 1 million mark in coronavirus cases this week, with 7,700 deaths so far, including a record 239 on Tuesday.

 

Vaccination rates are low due to supply shortages and temples are inundated with bodies to cremate.

 

Pairuch Sudtoop is a volunteer for a foundation funded by donations that has provided free undertaking and cremation services for about 350 people in recent months.

 

"The nation is in crisis now, I've never seen Thais suffer this much," Pairuch said.

 

He volunteers on top of his job as a business owner and church worker.

 

"As the last person at the gate between the human world and the afterlife, it's hard to control our emotions not to be sad."

 

The government has hotlines for infected people to call for help, but has been criticised for failing to cope with a surge in demand.

 

A group of aerospace engineers has created a platform to connect volunteers with infected people needing assistance, tracking their locations and waiting times. It also provides information like available community isolation centres and places to refill oxygen tanks.

 

Volunteer developer Wasanchai Vongsantivanich points to red dots on a screen showing a Bangkok map and those awaiting help.

 

"You can see the situation is pretty bad," he said, adding 9,000 volunteers signed up in the first three weeks.

 

"They are just trying to help people in the community.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-08-17

 

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"How do you feel?"
I feel fine.
"Can I shove this swab up your nose and into your throat?"
No.

There not volunteers.

 

There military transcripts.

Forced to.

 

I'm sure there are some genuine volunteers though.

Not many.

Edited August 18, 20214 yr by MrJ2U

Shame the covid Czar isn't among these people helping out.  Then again he is too busy blaming others for his abject failure.

How can anyone on this Forum be negative against Monks doing the right thing and desperate to help there people.

Maybe the naysayers should try living in Afghanistan.

Great to see people step up and help others in need.

8 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

There not volunteers.

 

There military transcripts.

Forced to.

 

I'm sure there are some genuine volunteers though.

Not many.

I wish people are smarter! These are MONKS! Read and don’t comment for the sake of commenting!

6 hours ago, kwaussie said:

How can anyone on this Forum be negative against Monks doing the right thing and desperate to help there people.

Maybe the naysayers should try living in Afghanistan.

These people lead a sad life and cannot accept anything genuinely good that happen in Thailand.

Nice to see, honours to them ????

8 hours ago, kwaussie said:

How can anyone on this Forum be negative against Monks doing the right thing and desperate to help there people.

Maybe the naysayers should try living in Afghanistan.

Why Afghanistan? Unreal.

I can not and have not seen a monk do anything but sprout nonsense or beg for food.

Freeloaders the lot of em.

Where do I sign up?  

11 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

There not volunteers.

 

There military transcripts.

Forced to.

 

I'm sure there are some genuine volunteers though.

Not many.

In our town in the NE there are many volunteers working with the local hospitals. They have a central volunteer coordinator and they go around the villages testing people for Covid and checking on their well being, bringing them to the hospital if needed. Many foreigners don't know about this. 

12 minutes ago, jwbrit said:

In our town in the NE there are many volunteers working with the local hospitals. They have a central volunteer coordinator and they go around the villages testing people for Covid and checking on their well being, bringing them to the hospital if needed. Many foreigners don't know about this. 

We have them come around also, local folk that do every thing they can to help in our small village.

Never seen one of the local monks with them.

2 minutes ago, sherwood said:

We have them come around also, local folk that do every thing they can to help in our small village.

Never seen one of the local monks with them.

Kudos to whomever is helping, but I'm not going to allow someone who doesn't have a clue of what he or she is doing jab a swab up my nose halfway to my brain.  

3 hours ago, ThaiKhunThai said:

I wish people are smarter! These are MONKS! Read and don’t comment for the sake of commenting!

Baloney.

 

I assume you're reporting from a temple.

 

What a clown.

11 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

There not volunteers.

 

There military transcripts.

Forced to.

 

I'm sure there are some genuine volunteers though.

Not many.p

Seems you fit the adage very nicely :

Better to be quiet and left people think you are a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. 

8 minutes ago, Artisi said:

Seems you fit the adage very nicely :

Better to be quiet and left people think you are a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. 

I assume you're the pied piper of the monks.

 

Crawl back under your rock.

2 minutes ago, MrJ2U said:

I assume you're the pied piper of the monks.

 

Crawl back under your rock.

Wrong assumption again...... 

Why is it when someone on here mentions Monks, a whole bunch of hate mongers come out from under their hiding place and start spewing hate for Thai Buddhist monks?  What is that old saying, walk a mile in my shoes?  Not every monk you see is a fraudulent poser.  I know personally some damn good monks. 

19 minutes ago, khaowong1 said:

Why is it when someone on here mentions Monks, a whole bunch of hate mongers come out from under their hiding place and start spewing hate for Thai Buddhist monks?  What is that old saying, walk a mile in my shoes?  Not every monk you see is a fraudulent poser.  I know personally some damn good monks. 

I know many damn good people also. Not one of them is a Monk. The "genuine" Monks around here died years ago and those remaining have  never attended formal theological education. They are self exiled escapees from paternal, financial, criminal responsibilites who act as collection agents for the central organization that calls every month for a major cut of the cash collection! Housed and fed in ever expanding facilities funded by  villagers  who have  sweet Flock all . Recently seen self driving a nice new Toyota 7 seater van. Convivial lot but scammers !

1 hour ago, Nojohndoe said:

I know many damn good people also. Not one of them is a Monk. The "genuine" Monks around here died years ago and those remaining have  never attended formal theological education. They are self exiled escapees from paternal, financial, criminal responsibilites who act as collection agents for the central organization that calls every month for a major cut of the cash collection! Housed and fed in ever expanding facilities funded by  villagers  who have  sweet Flock all . Recently seen self driving a nice new Toyota 7 seater van. Convivial lot but scammers !

Unfortunately your comments are true in probably far too many cases, but not all are in this class of scammers - fortunately there are still many genuine monks to be found. 

On 8/18/2021 at 2:41 PM, khaowong1 said:

Kudos to whomever is helping, but I'm not going to allow someone who doesn't have a clue of what he or she is doing jab a swab up my nose halfway to my brain.  

Well, of course not. They can just do temp checks as early warning. In any case you can stick the swab up your own nose for any of those tests.