Opinion

The Thaiger Opinion Columns

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    Do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?

    Thailand’s healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isn’t as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...

  • Phuket Opinion: Amid the many bus and van crashes killing tourists in Phuket, it’s time to focus more carefully on responsibility

    Phuket Opinion: Amid the many bus and van crashes killing tourists in Phuket, it’s time to focus more carefully on responsibility

    PHUKET: One of the most startling revelations to arise from the bus crash on Phuket’s Chalong-Kata Hill was a policeman telling the Phuket Gazette that there is no provision in law for police to lay charges against a bus owner and/or management company for vehicle malfunctions, such as brake failure. This is why bus, van and truck drivers who crash…

  • Phuket Opinion: Patong Police volunteers need careful scrutiny to protect tourists

    Phuket Opinion: Patong Police volunteers need careful scrutiny to protect tourists

    PHUKET: The safety of tourists visiting Phuket is always a key concern among local officials, and nowhere on the island is the issue more important than in Patong, which has the island’s highest density of visitors and hotels. Several agencies play roles in tourist safety there, but none assume greater responsibility than the Patong Police, who currently have 180 officers…

  • Phuket Opinion: Landslides expose greed, incompetence

    Phuket Opinion: Landslides expose greed, incompetence

    PHUKET: There is a Thai idiom, gam dai khrai gaw gam nan yawm sanawng, that has as its English-language equivalent, “You reap what you sow”. Similar maxims no doubt exist in every language because of the universal truths they contain. Local leaders throughout Phuket are grappling for ways to deal with the damage from the floods and landslides that have…

  • Phuket Opinion: Signs of progress against roadside pollution

    Phuket Opinion: Signs of progress against roadside pollution

    PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette fully supports the long-overdue effort by the Phuket Highways Office to remove billboards and other unsightly advertising signage from roadsides under its authority, and we would encourage the local Department of Rural Roads and other agencies with similar authority to follow suit as soon as possible. If there is another “tropical island paradise” with roadsides that…