Severe flooding has damaged many roads in the country. Some of them, such as the Highway 333 in Uthai Thani, have become impassable.
Jamlong Silaloy, 69, and Yuang Pumpong, 87, had been receiving treatment for acute myocardial infarction at the Uthai Thani Hospital but their condition had not improved.
An EMIT team checked on both patients and decided it would be better to transfer them to a betterequipped hospital in Bangkok. Normally, patients can be transferred to the capital via Highway 333, which is a main route in Uthai Thani. But with the highway seriously flooded, the pair needed an airlift.
Both patients were getting treatment under the universal healthcare scheme, so the National Health Security Office (NHSO) agreed to pay for their helicopter rides.