Phuket

Mob protests police “lack of action’

Published

17 years ago

Saturday, April 3, 2004

CHERNG TALAY: In the latest flare-up in an ongoing gang war between youths from Bang Tao and neighboring Baan Don, some 100 teenagers blocked the main road intersection in Cherng Talay last night for seven hours. The mob were protesting about the “unfair” arrests of two Bang Tao teenagers during a brawl yesterday afternoon in Thalang, and about the repeated failure of police to apprehend a leader of the Baan Don gang. The mob blocked the intersection, outside the Cherng Thalay Police Station, from 8 pm to 3 am. They demanded to know what action the police had taken over an incident on January 21 when an 18-year-old from Bang Tao was shot in the leg. (See also https://thethaiger.com/news/index.asp?Id=3267). Decha Salay, Chief of Moo 1, Bang Tao, told the Gazette, “The teenagers from Bang Tao and Baan Don often fight. A bad boy called Kwang shot a Bang Tao teenager [in January], but the police still have not arrested him. “The gangs met again during the military service lottery drawing at Phranaang Saang School in Thalang, and once again they fought. “Someone called the police, but when the officers arrived they just grabbed the closest teenagers, handcuffed them and handed them over to the Cherng Talay Police.” The two were released soon afterward. K. Decha said that although Kwang was involved in the fight yesterday, he had once again escaped arrest. Frustration at the inability of the police to apprehend him had been the main reason for the protest, he explained. The mob made three demands: a progress report on the investigation into the shooting; the arrest of Kwang; and the transfer of the Thalang officers who arrested the two teenagers. Around midnight Vice-Governor Pongpow Kettong and Phuket Provincial Police Chief Pol Maj Gen Veerayuth Sittimalic arrived to negotiate with the mob. Gen Veerayuth told the Gazette, “The two kids were released soon after their arrest, once the police had ascertained they had not been doing anything wrong. “The crowd just wanted police to take action over the shooting by Kwang, because they believed officers were not doing anything about the case. “I have repeatedly told the police in Cherng Talay that it is a sensitive area that requires officers who can build relations with the local people. The police know this already,” he said.

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News Categories: Phuket

Phuket

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

Published

10 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

3 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

4 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