Ailing Korat woman twice rejected for state welfare
An ailing Nakhon Ratchasima woman who lives on handouts from her neighbours says she has twice been turned down for a state welfare card.
Rassamee Suasungnone, 59, of Pak Thongchai district complained that the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives had twice refused to issue her “the poor person’s debit card”, as it’s nicknamed, saying she didn’t qualify because she once had Bt100,000 in a bank account.
Rassamee insisted she’d never had such a high amount of savings and had only Bt200 when she opened the account.
The woman lives alone and suffers from chronic ailments including diabetes and hypertension, which worsened five years ago, leaving her with weak muscles and with difficulty moving about.
Poor health stopped her earning a living selling meatballs, so her neighbours pooled their money to build her a ramshackle house on a public land in the village of Ban Pae, Tambon Takhu.
The neighbours bring her rice and other food to cook. For the past two years she’s been getting a monthly Bt800 disability subsidy from the tambon administrative organisation and the village head pays for her electricity.