Phuket

Gov under siege from limo drivers

Published

16 years ago

Friday, July 29, 2005

PHUKET CITY: Some 100 furious limousine drivers today blocked Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura’s car, preventing the Governor from leaving Provincial Hall for lunch.

The drivers arrived at Provincial Hall at 7:30 this morning, angered by a report in the local newspaper Siang Tai, in which the Governor was quoted as threatening to use the army to bring order to the increasingly turbulent transport situation at Phuket International Airport.

The Governor has been trying to force through a policy greatly increasing the number of meter taxis allowed to collect passengers from the airport, and giving the taxis their own ticket desk in the arrivals hall.

The Governor was quoted as saying that if the limousine drivers go on strike in protest, or if meter taxi drivers feel threatened by the limousine drivers, he will bring in the army to keep order or even to provide transport for air passengers.

Arriving at 8:30, the Governor promptly went into meetings with the drivers’ leaders, at which he announced that he had heard from the airport authorities that they were prepared to halve the concession fees currently levied on limousine drivers.

This failed to placate the drivers, however. “We are against the setting-up of a meter taxi counter in the airport terminal – and at every beach on Phuket [as poposed by the Governor] – as this will greatly increase the number of meter taxis,” Manod Chusak, who runs the limousine counters at the airport, told Gov Udomsak.

“We don’t want the number of meter taxis to increase because that will have a direct effect on our livelihood.”

Three hours of discussions, from 8:30 to 11:30, failed to calm the angry mob outside the Provincial Hall and, when the Governor emerged from the building to go for lunch, the crowd blocked his car and security staff had to protect him from drivers who appeared to be about to push him around.

Using a megaphone, the Governor pleaded with the drivers for two hours. He made no concessions but eventually, at 1:30 pm, the drivers went away, vowing to return next Friday at 2 pm, and in greater force, for another round of talks, or confrontation, as the case may be.

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News Categories: Phuket

Phuket

ICU beds for Covid-19 patients in Phuket are close to a “critical” low

Published

9 hours ago

Monday, May 10, 2021

Tanutam Thawan

FILE PHOTO

Covid-19 patients in severe condition may have to been transferred from a government hospital in Phuket to a private hospital as the number of available hospital beds at public intensive care units in Phuket is close to a “critical” low, according to Vachira Phuket Hospital Director Chalermpong Sukontapol.

There are 9 ICU rooms at the Vachira Phuket Hospital. 5 are being used for Covid-19 patients with severe symptoms while the other 4 rooms are for those with mild symptoms and are under observation before being moved to another bed.

“If the 9 rooms are full of severe symptom cases, that will be a big critical stage. We may need to transfer our patients to other provinces or private hospitals, which may involve additional costs.”

He says 50% of the Covid-19 patients in Phuket are asymptomatic while 30% have mild symptoms and 10% have severe symptoms. For most of those with severe symptoms, the virus has moved to their lungs and they are in need of special equipment, like ventilators, to help them breathe and Charlempong says those patients need to be under close observation.

SOURCE: Phuket News

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Coronavirus (Covid-19)

For travellers to Phuket, testing is out, quarantine is in

Published

2 days ago

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Neill Fronde

PHOTO: Phuket Vice Governor Piyapong Choowong (via Facebook)

The on-again-off-again plans for testing people for Covid-19 as they arrive in Phuket will be replaced by quarantine after May 15, according to Vice Governor Piyapong Choowong’s latest announcement. In an online video broadcast last night, the vice governor confirmed the new scheme after Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew first mentioned it in an executive meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday.

There are now 25 provinces on the Phuket red zone list that they instated on April 22, with anyone arriving from those places required to have proof that they are either fully vaccinated or tested negative for Covid-19 within the last 72 hours. Without proof, people have to take a rapid antigen test to confirm they did not have Covid-19 before they would be allowed on the island. The test was first set to be 300 baht for everyone, and later controversially made free for Thai people and 500 baht for foreigners.

There had been some back and forth with budget concerns of being able to provide the mass testing and who would pay how much for continued testing. Perhaps requiring people to quarantine in Phuket is cheaper than testing them when they arrive (cheaper for Phuket officials anyway).

The original scheme was set to expire May 15, and announcements were made about extending the plan and stopping testing right away. For now, this debate seems to have settled on replacing the testing with a mandatory quarantine upon entering Phuket.

The vice-governor explained that the rapid antigen test will continue through May 14, and then starting May 15, anyone who arrives without a vaccine or a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours of arriving in Phuket will be required to quarantine for 14 days. They set a goal of zero new infections by the end of the next two weeks. And he stated they are committed to doing whatever it takes as “Phuket cannot continue with this risk”.

Speaking to The Phuket News… “We want to send a sign to the country that we are cleaning up our province. The 3 vice governors [in Phuket] have been ordered to take care of each district by cooperating with local administration officers as well as community leaders to do proactive screening,”

After announcing the quarantine plan for Phuket, the vice governor spoke confidently that in the near future the island will have enough jabs to vaccinate every person on the island. Religious leaders from any faith are currently being vaccinated because of their general proximity to people during religious ceremonies and practices.

Vice Governor Piyapong pled with people with the people of Phuket who were on the fence about Covid-19 vaccinations, anti-vaxxers, or those otherwise resisting getting the jabs needed to reach herd immunity.

“If you are still deciding whether or not to get vaccinated, please come to get vaccinated”

SOURCE: The Phuket News

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Phuket

Thailand News Today | Pfizer vaccines on the way, Phuket’s July re-opening | May 7

Published

3 days ago

Friday, May 7, 2021

Thaiger

Disease Control Department back-peddled saying that that foreigners living in Thailand WILL also be vaccinated, governor of Chiang Mai is calling for the ban on dining in at restaurants in the northern city to be lifted and for eateries to be allowed to serve food on-site until 9pm, Tourism and Sports Minister insists the southern island of Phuket must record zero Covid-19 cases if a planned July re-opening is to go ahead, and 150 million baht worth of methamphetamine pills were impounded in Nakhon Phanom yesterday