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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?...
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Incinerator “on hold until after elections’ – Governor
PHUKET: Consideration of approval for funding to build a second garbage incinerator is likely to have to wait until a new government is elected in the national elections slated for December 23, Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit told the Gazette yesterday.“Bearing in mind the current political situation as the government gears up for national elections at the end of this year,…
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Two tourists drown
KATA-KARON: Two foreign tourists who ignored red warning flags and entered heavy surf drowned in separate incidents yesterday afternoon at Kata and Karon beaches.Pol Lt Col Chana Suthimas, duty inspector of Chalong Police Station, identified the victim recovered at Karon Beach as 41-year-old Mesut Yetkin from Turkey. His death was reported about 6:40 pm.A few hours earlier, about 3 pm,…
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Flash flood warning issued
PHUKET: The Meteorological Department (West Coast) today issued a flash flood warning for people living in hillside areas in Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi and Trang due to continuing heavy rains in the region.The warning also advises against small craft venturing out in the Andaman Sea.Aroon Kerdsom, who heads the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket) office, said workers had…
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Dim bikers shown the light
PHUKET CITY: In a bid to improve road safety, the Phuket Community Foundation (PCF) is launching a project to replace substandard taillights on motorcycles from November 8 to 10.The project will provide 1,200 tail lights and brake lights for a wide range of the most common small-engine scooters and motorcycles made by Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki.The taillights will be…
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Semi-trailer jackknifes, causes 5km tailback
KOH KAEW: A 22-wheel semi-trailer slid out of control on a wet Thepkrasattri Rd early this afternoon and came to rest only after slamming into the footpath.The driver lost control of the vehicle about 1:30 pm after braking hard to avoid hitting a motorcycle that crossed in front of the truck.The driver, Vinai Lekpetch, 45, told the Gazette, “I was…
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Police arrest Phuket City “serial thieves’
KATHU: Two men have been arrested for a series of robberies after they were caught on video by CCTV breaking into an apartment, Pol Lt Col Thitirat Asakit of Tung Tong Police announced this morning.On September 29 about 11 am, Tung Tong Police Station received a call from a female student who said her laptop computer and mobile phone had…
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Who’ll stop the rain?
PHUKET CITY: Heavy rains today has caused flooding and traffic jams in some areas, but thus far there have been no reports of landslides or serious damage.A two-hour downpour starting about 10 am left Phra Phuket Kaew Rd near the Tesco-Lotus intersection under about half a meter of water, resulting in a tailback all the way to Kathu. Other parts…
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Roadworks delay for “death bend’
THALANG: Road construction to straighten the notoriously dangerous Kho En “death bend” on Thepkrasattri Rd has been delayed, with just 2% of the roadwork finished on the project that began June 28 and was scheduled for completion by December 24.The Phuket Highway District contracted Chaiyakorn Co Lt to expand the 440-meter section of the four lane road and decrease the…
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Construction of controversial Tesco continues
THALANG: The ongoing dispute between some Cheng Talay residents and mega-retailer Tesco Lotus is no closer to being solved, as construction continues on the fiercely-opposed Tesco Lotus Express Store in Bang Tao. At a meeting yesterday between Thalang District chief Chaivat Tapee and representatives from Cherng Talay Municipality, the newly-elected Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor) and a group of…
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Phaya Thai hospital plan comes under fire
PHUKET (Nation): The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) project to revamp the old Phyathai Hospital on the east side of Phuket City has come under criticism by Health Ministry officials, who claim it will lure qualified staff away from already short-staffed medical facilities.Ministry policy and strategy bureau director Dr Supakit Sirilak said state hospitals outside Bangkok already had too few…
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Man, 64, attacked in Rawai
RAWAI: Briton Bill O’Hare, 64, was attacked while riding his motorbike home late on Saturday night. He was hit in the head with a piece of lumber and kicked in the ribs before his attackers took off after they were startled by a woman who witnessed the crime.“I was riding my bike up the soi from Rawai Minimart, opposite Nikita’s,…
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Haze shrouds Phuket, neighboring provinces
PHUKET: Unusually hazy conditions over the island today are normal and not the result of any forest fires in the region, Phuket’s top meteorologist says. Wiwat Intarapanich, Chief of Weather Forecasting at the Meteorological Department’s Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast), told the Gazette this afternoon that the haze is normal for the southern region at this time of year and…
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Police hunt fish-paste five
CHONBURI: One might think that armed robbery follows a fairly formulaic process: just grab a weapon, threaten someone and, if everything goes to plan, flee with the loot.However, as with other professions, there are also cultural aspects involved in the choice of equipment. An Amazon Indian might use a blowpipe in a hold-up, whereas a Zulu would more naturally opt…
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Film Fest gets underway
PATONG: The first Phuket Film Festival gets underway at the new SF Cinema City on the 3rd Floor of Jungceylon at 6 pm tonight. The week-long festival will kick off with a star-studded gala event before the screening of Dance Machine, a quirky comedy by Spanish director Oscar Aibar, who won Best Director award for his 1995 film Atolladero at…
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Bodies of ferry sinking victims recovered
PHANG NGA: Rescue workers yesterday afternoon pulled the bodies of a woman and her nine-year-old granddaughter from the sunken car ferry Jern Jern, which capsized about 1 am on Tuesday off Koh Pratong, Kuraburi District in Phang Nga.All bodies have now been recovered from the sinking, which claimed three lives.Pol Maj Nirat Chuayjit of the Marine Police office in Kuraburi…
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Four Chinese arrested for smuggling fuel
PHUKET: Phuket Marine Police yesterday arrested four Chinese sailors near Koh Hei after they were caught with 20,000 liters of illegal fuel on board, Pol Lt Col Prasert Srikunnarat told the Gazette.“We were informed about 2 pm of an odd-looking boat about three miles from Chalong. We went there and found an old, unregistered boat flying orange cloth as a…
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One dead, two missing as Phang Nga ferry sinks
PHANG NGA: A ferry overloaded with construction material capsized and sank off Koh Prathong in Kuraburi district about 1 am Tuesday, claiming the life of the captain. Two others survived, but a woman and her granddaughter are missing presumed dead.Pol Maj Nirat Chuayjit of the Marine Police office in Kuraburi identified the sunken ferry as the Jern Jern, a flat-topped…
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Man attacked outside 7-Eleven in Rassada
RASSADA: A man was hospitalized Monday after being attacked by a gang of three men outside a 7-Eleven store on Srisuthat Rd in Rassada.Phuket City Police Investigations Inspector Lt Col Adul Nirapai said the three men set upon Sommaai Jindapol, 22, at about 10 pm.A 7-Eleven employee told police that the attack began outside the store, but spilled inside and…
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VeggieFest Day 7
Over 1,000 mah song (“entranced horses” or spirit mediums) from Chinese shrines around the island joined together this morning to take part in the Jui Tui Chinese Shrine street procession to Saphan Hin. Today marked day seven of the nine-day festival, the island’s signature cultural event that has spread to many other parts of Thailand.
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Govt-assessed land prices skyrocket
BANGKOK: Over the past four years, Phuket has recorded the highest land-price increase in Thailand, according to unofficial results of a nationwide land appraisal conducted by the Treasury Department.A source in the Treasury Department told a Prachachart Turakij reporter that on average, land prices in Phuket had increased 157.7% due to sustained growth in the tourism, real estate and retail…
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Karon Stadium debacle forces major tourneys to relocate
KARON: The poor state of the pitch at Karon Stadium has forced two international sporting events, the Phuket Soccer 7s and the King’s Cup 80-80 International Rugby Tournament, to be relocated.After more than a month of the organizers voicing their concerns over the pitch, which in poor condition could result in player injuries, the Soccer 7s will be played at Surakul Stadium in Phuket…
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Khao Sok Cave Tragedy: Guides were warned, survivor recounts ordeal
SURAT THANI (Nation, Gazette): The two Thai tour guides who led a group of foreign tourists into a cave at Khao Sok National Park over the weekend did so despite a warning by park officials about the danger of flooding inside, the Gazette has learned.Both guides and six of the seven tourists who entered the cave with them died in…
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German tourists die in flash flood
SURAT THANI (Nation): Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of eight German tourists and two Thai guides who died in a flash flood in Ban Takhun district yesterday evening.Police said the tour group went into a cave which has a waterway leading to the Ratchaprapha Dam reservoir in Khao Sok National Park about 7:30 pm when they were swept away…
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Vegetarian Festival in full swing
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2007 is well underway, with Kuan Te Kun Shrine, locally known as Sapam Shrine, this morning conducting the first of the nine street processions that are among the festival’s major highlights. The Sapam Shrine procession started at 8 pm at Nakhon Rd, behind the Phuket City Police Station. Amidst the cacophony of firecrackers set off…
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Wind shear probable cause of OG269 crash
BANGKOK (The Nation): Transport Permanent Secretary Chaisawat Kittipornpaiboon today announced that decoding of the One-Two-Go flight OG029 “black box” flight recorder revealed that the plane skidded off the runway and crashed into an escarpment due to bad weather.As chairman of the air-crash investigation committee, K. Chaisawat said that the flight suffered from wind shear and the captain could not land as planned.Black…
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Phuket launches twin-bins scheme
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Municipality has launched an initiative to solve some of the island’s waste woes with the addition of 400 pairs of mobile garbage bins around town, allocated to the areas in town deemed to have the densest population.Each pair comprises a light-blue bin for organic waste and a green bin for general waste. A budget of six…
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Gambling tops September crime statistics
PHUKET: Gambling topped the latest crime statistics released by Phuket Provincial Police, with 230 arrests made in September.In second place, 102 people arrested were arrested for drug-related cases, of which 63 involved ya bah (methamphetamine) with a total of 3,329 pills seized.Seventeen people were arrested for the use of cannabis, with 19.45 grams confiscated. There were 11 arrests for inhalant…
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Pakistani stabbed in Patong
PATONG: A Pakistani gang member has been arrested for the October 5 stabbing in Patong of a Pakistani businessman who refused to pay a protection fee to a local racket, said Pol Maj Bundit Kaosutham. Marmoon Igbal Butt was returning to his car after attending a party when he was confronted by Ram Nagar Raygarn, 38, said Maj Bundit.Ram told…
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Not-so-lucky yacht sinks
KOH PHI PHI: A sailing yacht sank in Ton Sai bay, off Koh Phi Phi Don around 2 pm on October 7. The unfortunate vessel, named Lucky, departed from Phuket on October 6 and anchored in Ton Sai bay in Krabi.According to Pol Lt Col Somchart Supawut, inspector of Krabi Marine Police, on the same day, the yacht raised its…
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Vegetarian festivities underway
PHUKET CITY: Thousands of people gathered at Chinese shrines around Phuket today to participate in pole-raising ceremonies before for the Vegetarian Festival, which starts in earnest tomorrow. Permanent Secretary for Interior Pongpayom Wasaputi joined the crowds dressed in white at Jui Tui shrine to place squares of gold leaf on the bamboo poles before they were raised at the auspicious…
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