Mentally ill Thai man punches medical worker in central Thailand

A mentally ill Thai man punched a medical worker in the face as he prepared an injection at the Bang Luang sub-district Health Promoting Centre in the central province of Pathum Thani.

The incident, which occurred at around 11am on February 2, was captured on CCTV. The medical worker shared the footage on Facebook, revealing that the patient, with mental health issues, punched him in the face.

In the video, the patient is seen preparing an injection by taking off his belt. After walking around the room, he approached the medical worker, said something, and suddenly punched him in the face. The frightened medical worker then fled to the safety of another room.

According to the medical worker in the video, the assailant arrived at the health centre accompanied by his mother. She discreetly gestured quietly to her son before leading him to a separate room, where she revealed to him that her son was grappling with mental health challenges.

The mother employed a ruse to bring her son to the hospital for an injection of fluphenazine decanoate, a long-acting medication primarily prescribed for chronic schizophrenia treatment.

The medical doctor said he registered the patient’s information into the system, asked him to measure his weight and height, checked his blood pressure, and then prepared the medicine. He asked the patient to take off his trousers and wait for him on the bed.

In response, the patient became agitated.

“I am fine. What is the medicine you are trying to give me, huh?”

The victim said he was about to reply to him but the patient punched him in the face, as seen in the video.

The victim emphasised that he shared the video and the story to seek safety measures for the medical workers and also seek responsibility from the attacker and his family. The medical worker added that the patient could do more than punching if he had a weapon with him.

The victim later updated on Facebook that the health centre director accompanied him to file a complaint against the attacker, and the Provincial Public Health Office gave him a gift basket as an encouragement. He and other officers also discussed preventive measures to avoid similar incidents in the future.