Ayutthaya hospital patients airlifted
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An emergency evacuation of patients from the heavily flooded Ayutthaya general hospital is underway and expected to be completed within two days. Hospital outpatient services have been suspended.
Thirty ambulances and military trucks were used yesterday to transport 100 patients to government hospitals safe from flooding in Saraburi and Pathum Thani, after water 2.2metres deep surrounded the Ayutthaya hospital. Twenty seriously ill patients were airlifted by helicopter to Bangkok on Saturday night.
The hospital was treating 320 patients, including 33 dependent on lifesupport systems, before it was flooded over the weekend. It now relies on electricity generated from power supply units and on twoday rations. For emergency treatment, patients are admitted at two adhoc facilities – a site across from city hall and Maha Raj Vocational Education College. Local people needing urgent help should call 1669.
Traffic radio station Jor Sor 100 said late yesterday four of its workers had been electrocuted in the heavily flooded Rojana industrial estate, while a fifth died in an urban part of Muang district.
Five paramotors were being used for aerial patrols over areas in Ayutthaya, Ang Thong and Sing Buri to locate people stranded in their homes and needing to be picked up or given assistance.
The Public Health Ministry reported that nearly 9,000 people were suffering severe stress, with 574 at risk of suicide.
Former Royal Irrigation Department directorgeneral Pramote Maiklad called for the volume of water released from Bhumibhol and Sirikit dams, in Tak and Uttaradit provinces, to be eased to reduce water levels in Nakhon Sawan.
He said that flood warnings in Bangkok should be made more specific and only target areas at greatest risk, as widespread warnings could cause distress among residents. “The flood peak in Bangkok should not last more than six hours and the situation could return to normal within six days,” he said.
A Chulalongkorn University academic said flood and water management by the authorities had failed because agencies worked separately, utilising their own different criteria and sets of doctrines.
Dr Thaweewong Sriburi, director of CU’s Environmental Research Institute, said the use of vessels and their propellers to drive water in the Chao Phraya River out of estuaries could have affected residents living by the river in Samut Prakan. They should have been warned of risks linked to the practice.
Harnnarong Yaowalert, chairman of Thai Water Partnership, said 30 departments under 13 ministries were involved in the national flood management levels. Each agency was independent from each other and not authorised to impose orders on others.
A government flood update yesterday said 261 people had drowned since the flooding began and four were missing. More than 2.3 million live in the 30 provinces that are inundated.
More than 60,000 calls had been made to a newly setup government information centre in the three days since it was established, said Information and Communications Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap.
The 1111 Dial 5 hotline had been flooded with calls and another 100 lines added to the original 500. Anudith said a request for help had been made to operators of mobile phone services to help answer questions and receive petitions and requests for help.
