Night Of The Body-Snatchers

[JustWhatTheDoctorOrdered]

Well, being that in Thai black magic, corpse fat and blood from homicide victims is in high demand--they have to get it somewhere. Just sayin'. At least that's where my mind goes when I hear the sirens. Pogal sounds beyond noble and altruistic. But I have yet to meet a Thai that did anything that wasn't motivated by some kind of reward--karmic or otherwise.

Khun Paen, please come and meet the guys I work with and see what they do and talk to them yourself. Call me on 0870181291 and arrange a date and time suitable for you. I really do want you to see what these guys do and who they are because for me, they are the epitome of traditional Thai-ness. I want you to understand what we are about, what we do and why we do it, and hopefully you will relate this to all your friends after. Im not sure where you are but we work from next to Major Ekamai. If that's not convenient I can arrange a place nearer you for others to meet. I do understand where you get your feelings from regarding nothing is done for free but after you have met these guys you will think differently about Thailand and Thai people. As I said before, these are the Thai people who have given me hope for Thailand since I do agree that not much is done in Thailand without reward but you can see for yourself by meeting them and talking with them. There are actually many Thai's out there who are completely altruistic.

Kind regards.

Great posts from Pogal.

myself and a friend would love to go out with these guys one evening and experience what he says about these guys.

What's the chances ?

[PalMan]

i suspect that many who have opinions on these individuals, have little real knowledge or first hand experience of them

Unfortunately that sort of sums up most of the negative comments and Thai bashing on TV and it feeds on itself. Someone on one of the forums fabricates or imagines something to bolster his subjective opinion and then that fabrication becomes catalogued as a "fact" for future reference.

Despite what's portrayed on television dramas, urban emergency services in the more advanced countries do not generally arrive on the scene within seconds of an accident either and the cost of that relative speed and the presence of those better qualified personnel is enough to give you a heart attack if you hadn't already had one.

As shown below, even a couple of years ago in New York it would cost you over Baht 30,000 to get collected off the pavement and delivered to a hospital. I'm sure if everyone in Thailand was willing/able to pay that, the services would improve greatly ... but then many of us came to Thailand because we couldn't afford life in places like New York.

In the UK:

>>

THE ambulance service has apologised after an elderly woman lay in the road for two

hours before an ambulance arrived.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/archive/2012/12/19/News(hc_news)/10117445.Elderly_woman_lay_in_road_for_two_hours_after_accident___ambulance_service_apologise/

In New York:

No one can be refused care in an emergency room. This is a beautiful thing for the spirit, not so beautiful for the pocketbook, because those who can pay cover the costs for those who can’t. The average cost of an ambulance ride is $1,099, according to the 2011 Mayor’s report.

http://thewgnews.com/2013/05/emergency-exit-five-things-you-should-know-if-god-forbid-you-ever/

Very interesting report on Manhattan response times, from 911 call to arrival at the scene, around 4 minutes **average** for cardiac and choking, 6 minutes for other life-threatening, and still only 8 minutes for "other" calls.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/pdf/stats/2012/ems/mn/ems_mnsum_cy12.pdf

Obviously insurance includes paying for the admittedly high (but IMO well worth it) costs for those that have it, but no discrimination at the time, financial issues sorted out after the fact those that can afford it subsidizing those charity cases that don't have any insurance at all - which group is intended to get down to zero under Obama's coming reforms.

Just another example of how human life (of the common peolpe anyway) are worth less here, but even if you're as rich as Croesus of course these amazing response times would never be possible in Bangkok given the apparently unsolvable traffic issues.

[mickjn]

[JustWhatTheDoctorOrdered]

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I would like to go out with this team, where do they hang ?

[DLock]

I have nothing but good things to say about these guys.

Without them, I probably would not have survived the car crash that I had.

Not only did they dress my wounds and stabilize me and rush me to hospital, they arranged to have my car taken to the police station and nothing was missing from inside the car, and it had computer, camera and lenses and random valuable stuff.

I understand that their services were included in my hospital bill, but it did not seems excessive.

These guys deserve a lot of credit, not your uneducated negative comments.

One day you might need them, like I did.

[kandi]

Last year I've spend a Friday night with a rescue team from the Poh Teck Tung Organisation, one of the two main organisations who voluntarily rescue people and bring them to the hospital. I was writing an article for SPIEGEL, a German magazine, that's why I had the chance to ask many questions and get a uncensored insight in their everyday working life.

I was a bit scepticle when I arrived because I've heard a few stories about them like being involved in fights, stealing stuff from the victims, carrying guns and so on. The people on this rescue team turned out to be the most sincere, honest and caring people I've ever met in this country.

Somebody here said they had to make use of 40 coffins a night. When I was with them, "only" four people died. Thakorn, the team leader, said this was the average. Most accidents happen - of course - Friday and Saturday between midnight and 4am.

A few years ago, Poh Teck Tung which counts a total of 3000 volunteers often ended up in fights with Ruam Katanyu, the other main rescue organisation. The reason were mainly the private hospitals who used to - and still do - offer money to the volunteers if they bring the victims to their hospital instead of a public one.

The government tried to intervene and promised every volunteer 500 Baht if they bring them to a public hospitals. None of the rescuers in the team I've been working with ever received that money. However, the fights eventually came to an end after they had decided to split the work: On even days Poh Teck Tung is doing the job, uneven days belong to Ruam Katanyu.

Stealing belongings from the victim still does happen thesedays, but compared with how it was a few years ago, it has more become some kind of rarity. What shocked me more were the attitude of some hospitals, private as well as public: According to the rescuers it happens every now and then that they rush a heavily injured person to a hospital and get refused right away because the victim doesn't look like he's able to pay for his treatment. If they're lucky, the next hospital accepts him. If not, he days.

Within Poh Teck Tung, only the employees from the headquarter in Yaowarat get a monthly salary, the people who actually pick up the injured victims don't get a single Baht. And still some of the workers spend their own money for medical supplies or even own ambulances. Everyone I've asked said he was doing it for ทำบุญ tambun, merit.

Everyone who wants to become a volunteer has to pass a basic first aid test and a Saturday night shift. The volunteers said this was to filter out those who are only looking for the thrill. The cars being used by Poh Teck Tung are either customized pickups or Toyota HiAce vans. Whereas the pickups often consist only of a washable loading area, the vans usually offer a decent medical standard.

Of course a single rescue team can't represent a whole organisation but it certainly gives an insight in the work of Poh Teck Tung. I deeply respect what these guys do every night - I wouldn't be able to cope with that.

[mark131v]

I am a working paramedic and have been for the past 8 years after 12 years as a military medic, I agree they are better than nothing but I have seen them do things that have made me cringe. It was not done through malice but ignorance and lack of training but that can be lethal, I also had a chat with a Fallang volunteer one night in Pattaya who was stood by his modern reasonably well appointed ambulance. I explained what I did and asked him what training was required by someone to respond to the major accidents you see on the roads round there his response was that if you had done a first aid course that would be useful...scary really to know someone with no training can potentially kill you or leave you crippled by the roadside through lack of basic training it seems a lot of it is a bit of a toss up, to be honest the last bloke I handed over to them would have been better off in a taxi at least there he would not have been forced onto a backboard and been forced into an unsized cervical collar even after I had told them he had a fractured skull. Better than nothing but still scary as hell...