Phuket Town Ultimate Hotel Guest Hans Maeter Recovering Well

[webfact]

Phuket Town ultimate hotel guest Hans Maeter recovering well

Phuket Gazette

Tourist Police officers and medical staff prepare Mr Maeter for transfer to Patong Hospital. Photo: Courtesy of the Phuket Tourist Police

On On Hotel owner Anurak Tansiriroj flanked by Phuket Tourist Police officers Sen Sgt Maj Wichai Boonruen (left) and Sgt Payong Tipsombut. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

PHUKET: -- Hans Maeter, the 88-year-old German expat who was moved from Phuket’s famed On On Hotel to Patong Hospital on May 8, is reportedly doing well.

Mr Maeter had been a permanent resident at the On On Hotel in Phuket Town for the past 20 years. The hotel is famed as the Phuket hotel featured in the Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach.

He was transferred to Patong Hospital after hotel management could no longer stand by and watch him stay in his room, where he has been bedridden for the past year.

Phuket Tourist Police officers Sen Sgt Maj Wichai Boonruen and Sgt Payong Tipsombut received a call from the hotel owner, Anurak Tansiriroj, to assist in transferring Mr Maeter to hospital.

The officers arrived at the hotel on Phang Nga Road in Phuket Town at 12:30pm with a Swiss Tourist Police Volunteer and three officers from Patong Hospital, including Hospital Director Dr Phumin Silaphan.

They found the emaciated Mr Maeter lying on his hotel bed, covered with a blanket. After bathing and dressing Mr Maeter, they assisted him into a wheelchair and helped him to an ambulance waiting below.

Mr Anurak, who is also the founder of Phuket International Hospital and the Czech Honorary Consul for Phuket, told the Phuket Gazette, “Mr Maeter could not get off the bed for a year. During that time our hotel maid cleaned his room and brought him food and drink, but he could not eat much.

“He refused to go a hospital or stay anywhere else. He said he wanted to die here,” he said.

“We contacted Mr Maeter’s family in Germany and his friends in Phuket, but he declined any help from them,” Mr Anurak added.

With a full renovation of the hotel scheduled to start on May 1, Mr Maeter was the last guest to check out.

“We couldn’t leave him in the hotel. He needed to be moved to a hospital where he could receive proper care,” Mr Anurak said.

Officers received a surprise while gathering Mr Maeter’s belongings to take with him to hospital, Sen Sgt Maj Wichai said.

“While we were collecting his belongings, we found more than 100,000 baht in Thai baht and US dollar banknotes. We have already opened a bank account for him to keep his money safe in the bank.

“We also found a bankbook in his room showing that he has more than 1.2 million baht in his own bank account,” Sen Sgt Maj Wichai said.

Mr Anurak has volunteered to keep Mr Maeter’s belongings safe and to pay for his hospital treatment until the German Embassy in Bangkok is contacted and assists in making alternative arrangements, Sgt Payong explained.

A source familiar with the case said the Embassy was aware of the situation, but could not intervene because no laws were being broken.

Before Mr Maeter’s debilitating condition set in, he returned home to Germany several times during his many years of stay at the hotel, Mr Anurak recalled.

“Later he was unable to go anywhere, so he stayed in the hotel all the time,” he said.

Tourist Police said Mr Maeter was staying legally in Phuket on a one-year visa.

Despite his condition, Mr Maeter managed to obtain a new passport from the German Embassy with an issue date of February 12 this year. The passport lists his place and date of birth as Stettin, Germany in 1923. The town, now known as Szczecin, lies in Poland’s Baltic region.

The On On Hotel, which at 85 years old is reputedly the oldest hotel in operation in Phuket, will undergo renovation work into next year, said Mr Anurak.

“We will hand over the operations to another Thai hotel operator, but the name and style of the On On Hotel will remain the same,” Mr Anurak said.

The renovations will see an upgrade in the style and comfort, as well as an increase in the number of rooms, he said.

“However, we will have to increase the room rates a little bit to ensure the prices keep pace with current times,” Mr Anurak said.

Yesterday, staff at Patong Hospital reported that Mr Maeter’s condition has improved.

“He is strong and can now feed himself,” said one hospital staffer.

Patong Hospital Director Dr Phumin Silaphan previously told the Gazette, “He is fine at the hospital now. He does not need any special treatment as he is not ill.”

Hospital administrators have contacted the German Embassy in Bangkok in order to plan Mr Maeter’s future.

“Mr Maeter received a phone call from a foundation in Germany [on Wednesday]. However, we do not know what transpired doing that conversation,” the hospital staffer told the Gazette.

Despite the large sums of money in both cash and in bank accounts recovered from his hotel room, Dr Phumin noted that Mr Maeter had no medical insurance.

“Right now... all we can do is take care of him as best we can,” he added.

Additional reporting by Chutharat Plerin

This story was originally published in the May 12-18, 2012 hardcopy issue of the Phuket Gazette.

Source: http://www.phuketgaz...ticle16032.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2012-05-25

[JetsetBkk]

"He was transferred to Patong Hospital after hotel management could no longer stand by and watch him stay in his room..."

Ha, ha. They wanted him out so they could renovate the place. No need for this ridiculously biased reporting by the Gazette.

[HerbalEd]

"He was transferred to Patong Hospital after hotel management could no longer stand by and watch him stay in his room..."

Ha, ha. They wanted him out so they could renovate the place. No need for this ridiculously biased reporting by the Gazette.

Ha, ha what? It's not like you've exposed anything here.

[tragickingdom]

Nice that the police searched his belongings and make us all part about his account details. N

Ver heard if privacy?

[loongjohn50]

I stayed at the On On the first time in Jan 1972. I met my first bedbug there. The island has been going downhill ever since. I wouldn't go to Phuket if you paid me - a lot!

[MaiChai]

I stayed at the On On the first time in Jan 1972. I met my first bedbug there. The island has been going downhill ever since. I wouldn't go to Phuket if you paid me - a lot!

Me too! I vowed back in 1998 never to return to Phuket. Well I did last year and regretted doing so. I remember when there was just a string of bungalow operations behind the beaches.

Let this article be a lesson to those of you who want to retire in Thailand: what happens when you get really old?

[Gerryasia]

I stayed at the On On the first time in Jan 1972. I met my first bedbug there. The island has been going downhill ever since. I wouldn't go to Phuket if you paid me - a lot!

And what was his/her name? '_'

[MILT]

I stayed at the On On the first time in Jan 1972. I met my first bedbug there. The island has been going downhill ever since. I wouldn't go to Phuket if you paid me - a lot!

Me too! I vowed back in 1998 never to return to Phuket. Well I did last year and regretted doing so. I remember when there was just a string of bungalow operations behind the beaches.

Let this article be a lesson to those of you who want to retire in Thailand: what happens when you get really old?

What? that the Thai people and the authorities look out for this old guy and cared? Phuket might be as you say but most people will look out for the old and disabled. I plan on getting old here and taking my last breath here. I know a few expats that have died here and there was no drama or gold digging nor any scams by anyone. Just a lot of expressions of love and respect as I see in this article. With the amount of money that was reported I see no one fleecing this senior citizen.

[mrdome]

Hopefully, this change put some strength back into Mr. Maeter.

I foresee more & more Western retirees moving to Asia, either because they want to or because of low pension payments they can no longer afford life in the West (although the falling Euro is making things more expensive now). It would be nice to have retiring villages, nursing homes and hospices geared for that type of clientele.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Nice that the police searched his belongings and make us all part about his account details. N

Ver heard if privacy?

No such thing in LoS. . .