Sudarat to attend medical conference

PHUKET CITY: Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan is to attend a national conference on “Healthy Living” in Phuket City next week.

The minister will be at the Royal Phuket City Hotel on Wednesday (August 25) to present awards to people judged to have done significant medical research in Thailand.

The conference, which will run from Tuesday to Friday, is expected to be attended by some 2,500 people.

Dr Thinakorn Phongwiwat, the Deputy Director of the Medical Service Division of Wachira Phuket Hospital, said “Healthy Thailand” had been chosen as the theme because “it is the Ministry’s policy to have Thai people live for a long time and in good health”.

More than 200 researchers will present research papers, and those judged to be most significant will be recognised at next year’s conference. K. Sudarat will present certificates for the best papers presented at last year’s conference.

The details of the “Healthy Living” conference were unveiled at Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura’s press conference on Tuesday, at which the Governor also appealed for more support in making Phuket a health tourism destination.

“The ministry sets the policy.” he said, “but it is up to local people to make it work. We need to study the implications of developing health tourism in Phuket; we need to know what needs to be done, and how the ministry will support us.

“We are a tourism destination and if we want to be a health hub in Asia, we need to look at the relationship between health and tourism, and at how we can link them to create a product we can sell.”