and these are the people who come to your rescue if you are injured/sick..

[Smurkster]

I am always surprised at the people who drive the ambulances here...its the young, punk type boys who act really childish and unprofessional.. yesterday I was at a 7-11 and a group of five or six of them were taking a break...they were laughing, riding the electronic quarter rocking horse and to top it off, one of them opened the back of the ambulance and farted right on a sleeping team members face. then they all laughed and yucked it up like it was the funniest thing in the world... I have seen these antics from these drivers before and I thought it was kind of funny too until it dawned on me that if I am ever in need of emergency medical care, these are most likely the same drivers who will come to my rescue....not the most comforting thought in the world....

I hope and pray that along with their antics, they actually have some capabilities to save some lives

[ClutchClark]

If I am in need of emergency medical treatment in Thailand then I have one goal--get to a hospital with highly trained medical staff and abundant equipment. I have no desire to be treated at the scene.

Since my goal is to receive qualified treatment ASAP, then one of these young knuckleheads is just who I want behind the wheel.

As for the fart story, I am 75 and still get a chuckle at that. Do guys ever really grow up?

;-)

[chrisinth]

You have to remember that these guys (and girls) are in a really stressful job. When they are on their downtime, the more childish antics they get up to the better.

As long as they switch to professionalism when needed. They could be the difference between life and death while rescuing/stabilizing and administering initial first aid.

Lot of respect for them, IMHO of course........................

[Clutch]

Maybe that fart was some type of new CPR method be rehearsed.

[noahvail]

My kid in the States ran with his uni rescue team the whole four years he was there (just graduated this year). He's been to innumerable incidents and has earned two pins from bringing life back to two people using CPR. There's a lot of stress, a lot of adrenaline, but nobody doubts their professionalism or their licenses.

And in their off time, they joke around, do the pranks, and relieve the stress.

What bothers me is that I carry more in my first aid kit than some of these pickups with red flashing lights and a big sign "Rescue" painted on their doors. The ambulances, even in Isaan, have some proper equipment, and I've seen some that are ALS - advanced life saving - with defibs and all. Thailand isn't quite up to what we might be used to in the West, but they're making fast progress.

[Berkshire]

You have to remember that these guys (and girls) are in a really stressful job. When they are on their downtime, the more childish antics they get up to the better.

As long as they switch to professionalism when needed. They could be the difference between life and death while rescuing/stabilizing and administering initial first aid.

Lot of respect for them, IMHO of course........................

Agree. The OP really shouldn't obsess about what people do on their downtime. Would he really want to know what pilots, doctors, cooks, dentists, soldiers, etc., do on their down time? I'm sure every last one will say that it's none of his business.

[David48]

OP ... do you have any idea how the 'Ambulance system' works in Thailand?

Me thinks not.

It's not the same as in the West.

Be less critical and more observational.

[impulse]

Quite a few articles about these (BKK) guys in the past- CNN and AlJazeera come to mind.

Google them up. There's some controversy about the slants taken in the articles, but it's still good info.

[boike]

OP I hope for your sake that you never need them. They are hard working people who need our respect. You have no idea of the horrors they see every day. I always give 500bt to my local Sawang Boriboon at their yearly fund raiser.

Send from my Galaxy S4 4G LTE

[CharlieH]

As long as they weren't acting like that at the seen of an accident, where is the issue?

Everyone is entitled to down time and fun.

IMHO

[snottgoblin]

As long as they weren't acting like that at the seen of an accident, where is the issue?

Everyone is entitled to down time and fun.

IMHO

Very much agreed. If anyone has ever been to a hospital party and seen what goes on there, they might be surprised. Healthcare professionals work hard, and a lot play hard. Let them have fun, as long as it's not when they are doing their job.

Personally , I'm not always impressed with the behaviour of some of these cowboy outfits, especially the photographing of accidents and people and posting it on facebook, but there isn't much regulation on this sort of thing here yet.

[DP25]

A lot of these guys are volunteers, so cut them a bit of slack for having a bit of fun when there is no call.

[jaideeguy]

Ambulances here used to be that the neighbor who had a pick up truck carried the injured to the hospital as I have done before they added a big fleet of ambulances but I think that the old way was better, as I had an elderly neighbor who broke her hip and any movement caused intense pain. We called the ambulance and the 3 stooges showed up and their fumbling in transferring her to the stretcher was so unprofessional that I swore that I would never enter a Thai ambulance.

It was cheap @600thb, but you get what you pay for...........

[Thongkorn]

Having worked with them In A hospital, I would rather have them than nobody,Maybe what you saw was a bit of stress relief. It is not good having to pick pieces of people up and put them in a white sheet, Dont forget they don't get the training western Medics do

[arthurwait]

Maybe you should call the fun police instead.

[Datebayo]

Fart in the face ROFL LOL!!! it's a classic

[farang000999]

The last time I was at a University graduation in Thailand the students were playing what looked like a Thai version of Duck Duck Goose (which my 4 year old enjoys immensely).

I was not sure what to think of this at the time.

[kurnell]

I met that Kiwi chap that was supposed to be going around training all of these guys. None of them seem to know what they are doing eg. they don't know not to move people with a back injury.

[A1Str8]

If I am in need of emergency medical treatment in Thailand then I have one goal--get to a hospital with highly trained medical staff and abundant equipment. I have no desire to be treated at the scene.

Since my goal is to receive qualified treatment ASAP, then one of these young knuckleheads is just who I want behind the wheel.

As for the fart story, I am 75 and still get a chuckle at that. Do guys ever really grow up?

;-)

I agree. They are drivers. That's what they are there for and they are pretty good at that.

However i have never understood why certain people find farting funny. It's not funny at all. It's lame and disgusting.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Costas2008]

OP ... do you have any idea how the 'Ambulance system' works in Thailand?

Me thinks not.

It's not the same as in the West.

Be less critical and more observational.

No, he has no idea.

First of all, these are drivers, they only drive the ambulance.

They have no medical training.

When, there is an emergency, there is always a paramedic in the ambulance that administers first aid.

And these paramedics are well qualified.

If there is a transfer from one hospital to another, the patient is accompanied by a qualified nurse and if a more serious case there is a paramedic also present.

Please David, tell the OP to get his facts right.

[GinBoy2]

Depends on what the OP is actually talking about. The guys who drive around in the 'rescue' wagons are just volunteers from the local community no training, best you can hope for is that they do no more damage to you as they take you to hospital, but at least they try and it's free. The 'real' ambulances that you see are paid professionals, and are a 'fee for service', so you basically get what you pay for.

[cgphuket]

Don't worry, even the mature and professional ones will not save your life.

[ClutchClark]

If I am in need of emergency medical treatment in Thailand then I have one goal--get to a hospital with highly trained medical staff and abundant equipment. I have no desire to be treated at the scene.

Since my goal is to receive qualified treatment ASAP, then one of these young knuckleheads is just who I want behind the wheel.

As for the fart story, I am 75 and still get a chuckle at that. Do guys ever really grow up?

;-)

I agree. They are drivers. That's what they are there for and they are pretty good at that.

However i have never understood why certain people find farting funny. It's not funny at all. It's lame and disgusting.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Farting is a natural bodily function and even Benjamin Franklin and his peers, the leading thinkers of that time, found a certain humor in the subject--based on Franklins paper titled, "Fart Proudly".