A(H1N1) virus detected in second Thai prison

By John Le Fevre

AYUTTHAYA (thaivisa.com): -- Officials at Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Central Prison yesterday announced that a 50-year-old prisoner with flu-like symptoms had tested positive for the pandemic A(H1N1) virus after being sent to Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Hospital on August 1.

Laboratory tests returned yesterday showed the man, who is also afflicted with diabetes, chronic kidney disease, as well as congenital diseases, had had the infectious virus when he was removed from the prison population last Saturday.

The positive test result is reported to have resulted in an outbreak scare among other prisoners he was locked up with, with many anxious of the virus spreading through the prison community.

Yesterday ThaiVisa News reported on an email sent by an unnamed British prisoner at Bang Kwang to the charity Prisoners Abroad asking if it or the British Embassy in Bangkok has plans to pay for the flu treatment drug Tamiflu (also sold under the generic name oseltamivir), for jailed Brits in Thailand.

The author of the email said he was “aware that all medication for foreign prisoners must be sourced and paid for by their respective embassies” and he “wondered if the British Embassy in Thailand has a contigency plan in place?”.

He went on to say, “the conditions inside Thai prisons are very harsh and the health of a lot of the prisoners incarcerated is not good, with many also suffering with tuberculosis”.

Also yesterday, the Government commenced the free distribution of its locally produced oseltamivir through state and private clinics, though no mention has been made as to whether high risk category prisoners, or foreigners living in Thailand, will have access to the drug or on what basis.

As of last Wednesday Thailand had recorded 65 deaths due to pandemic A(H1N1) and 8,877 infections.

Thailand has one of the highest ratio of prisoners to population in the world and in 2006 more than 151,000 people were held in the country’s jails.

Thai prisons are currently estimated to be at about 230 percent capacity, with prisoners outnumbering staff by about 25 to 1.

-- thaivisa.com 2009-08-04

Hello, I hope that the prisoners get all the medical attention they need as this is a human rights issue. People make bad mistakes, but most people in prison for less serious offenses will get out so it is important to help these people too.

Hello, I hope that the prisoners get all the medical attention they need as this is a human rights issue. People make bad mistakes, but most people in prison for less serious offenses will get out so it is important to help these people too.

Very good point Dale.

It would make no sense to withhold the medication from inmayes that were destitute. From a public health perspective you can't have infected people acting as reservoirs. Untreated, these people would spread the virus, infecting guards as well as prisoners.

Public health crisis in the prisons is looming it seems.

Yes andf I hope they get it.

I do wonder how much good we are doing to discuss the matter though. The prisoner was very lucky to get the email out uncensored (or it was sent by proxy perhaps as it is anon) I wonder if the fact we are discussing it will lead to a tightening of access to things such as visitations, letters, phone calls, email etc for brittish prisoners.

Is it in anyones best interest for us to continue this discussion?

Will us (TV members) voicing our disaproval (or in some cases aproval of Thailands well known human rights abuses in incarceration) change the policy of Thai prisons... I dont think so.

I personally believe that we are jeaopordising that mans health by such talk.

I hope the british embassy helps as well as other related institutions.