Siriraj Gives Tsunami Survivors A Helping Hand

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Siriraj gives tsunami survivors a helping hand

Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital yesterday announced it would provide free reversal surgery for people who underwent sterilisation and lost their children in the 2004 tsunami.

Published on January 25, 2008

Many tsunami-hit villagers had sterilisation done prior to the disaster and now wish to have children again but cannot afford the procedure, said Dr Teerawat Kulthanan, dean of the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.

Sympathising with their loss and wishing to help their Thai compatriots, Siriraj Hospital staff would provide the surgery to the tsunami victims with no limits on the time to avail of the offer or the amount of patients, he said.

The project will start with a pilot group of 10 villagers from Phang Nga's Ban Nam Khem Village before being extended to other areas in Phang Nga, Krabi, Ranong, Trang, Phuket and Satun, as a new year gift from the hospital to the people, he added.

The hospital's infertility clinic chief Dr Reungsilp Chaowarat, said that before a sterilisation-reversing microsurgery could be done, both husband and wife of the family would undergo a check-up, especially the wife, who would undergo a laparoscopy to inspect her fallopian tubes.

He said the reversal surgery - which cost between Bt30,000 to Bt50,000 - was highly accurate and yielded higher rates of pregnancy than other methods.

Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dr Chanchai Wantanasiri, warned that the pregnancy rate after the reversal surgery varied from 20 to 90 per cent depending on factors including the woman's health and age - the rate was lower for those over 40.

He said the average pregnancy rate among Siriraj patients was a high as 70 per cent within five years of the surgery, after which it dropped, and the oldest successful case is a 45-year-old woman who is currently pregnant.

Ban Nam Khem villager Kesara Chanaseuk, 32, who lost sons aged six and four in the tsunami, said she was overjoyed by the hospital's project because it gave her hope of having children again.

Her 37-year-old neighbour, Lamyai Wongchiang-yeun, said she lost two daughters - one aged three-years-old and the other aged 11-months - but remained hopeful of having another baby, so she joined the project.

Another villager, Yupin Chotprapat, 38, who lost two sons, said the sterilisation-reversing surgery would help heal the pain of losing her children.

Duangkamol Sajirawattanakul

The Nation